The Carnegie Dance Team competed at state and their officers will soon compete at nationals in Galveston, the boy’s volleyball team just entered one of their first seasons in a competitive league and Interact club, the biggest club on campus recently hosted their widely anticipated international festival (IFest). Although the prospect of so many important events remains on the rise for these teams and clubs, one recent school policy change has loomed over the fate of their success.

At the beginning of Feb., the school announced that all clubs with or without a sponsor would have to leave school premises by six p.m. This schedule change comes from the CVHS police guard who the school is now only paying to stay until six. For clubs and organizations that last after this deadline, this policy has generated much controversy by teams feeling hindered by the change.

Dance Captain Emma Silverman says  “It’s made people a little bit more on edge, at least for me, about getting everyone competition-ready. We represent the school nationally as well as across the state, so everything’s just been a stress.”

Additionally, due to it being the boy’s volleyball team’s first year entering into a competitive league, Boys Volleyball Manager Sarah Ramos notes something similar stating, “It’s actually a little more serious. And to the point where we’re genuinely setting up games and we’re contacting other coaches in a much more serious manner than we were the years prior. So there is more on the line.”

As these important events and seasons approach, teams have had to take steps to accommodate for lost time. Often, an additional hour or two taken away from a practice or planned meeting has meant significant schedule changes for many. This has resulted in condensed schedules and practices that occupy more days than expected within the week.

Ramos says “I think it was actually really sudden, honestly for it to go from us being able to practice until 6:30 before and now only to six. We had to move a lot of our drills and stuff around, which isn’t fun because that was important stuff.”

Scheduling transformations haven’t just been prevalent for sports teams, however, they are also affecting some of our school events and clubs. When preparing for IFest, Interact had to adapt to not being able to stay after school to set up decorations and booths.

Interact President John Nguyen claims, “Not all of our committees could finish making the posters for the booth [for Ifest]. So we ended up working on that during lunch or taking it home and that definitely takes a toll on us because you know we also have schoolwork.”

Having to adjust to new schedules, many team and club members on the board have been put under much stress. For the dance team, along with adjusting practice schedules, officers have had to look for new places to practice after six because their practices usually last until eight. Between coordinating rides to new locations after school and needing a large space to practice in, the task of finding a new gym has not come easily.

“We’ve had to find other spaces and now we’re not able to use Gregory Lincoln [where they previously practiced] anymore because of the events going on there. We have to compete and we’re going to state championships, so we can’t end our practices at six, we have to finish our practice outside in the garage now where it’s just more unsafe.” Silverman says.

However, this stress hasn’t stemmed only from the ordeal of finding a new practice area. For the dance team, practicing in the garage and on hard concrete floors has raised important safety concerns.

Silverman says “We had to do it our freshman year during COVID and it makes it harder to do things full out. It’s not somewhere you can safely do a jump or a leap or turn to the ground because of the concrete.”

Between skipping conditioning exercises, not going full out and rushing team practices, ultimately there has only been one major concern for the dance team and the boy’s volleyball team. Their performances may be hindered during competitions because of these schedule changes. Many believe that mistakes could have been prevented by the one or two hours more practice time their teams had before.

Ramos says “It was important stuff that we were doing and I feel like in games we’re lacking in those areas because we’re not focusing on it anymore.”

For events that attract students across the district and teams that represent our school in a competitive setting, regionally, across the state and nationally, it’s important that proper accommodations are made to ensure members are representing our school to their fullest potential.

Silverman says “I do encourage our student body to do something about this change because I know it’s not just affecting our club. It’s also affecting teams such as volleyball and even basketball for next year, who all represent Carnegie.”