Last Friday morning, Mr. Daniel announced that Power Hour is canceled due to students not meeting the expectations outlined at the assembly.

However, this isn’t the first time the school has shut down Power Hour for a scheduled amount of time, raising the question like “If Power Hour is so helpful, why do they keep taking it away?”

“During power hour I go and sit down, do some of my math assignments because they take forever to do, eat some food, go to my spanish class to hangout and talk to my friends, and I sit with my teammates sometimes,” Matt Fisher (‘25) explained. 

Clubs like NAHS haven’t been able to hold a meeting in over a month, due to the recurring schedule changes.

“We haven’t been able to meet in a while. The meetings would usually take place during Power Hour, but we just haven’t had the chance lately with all the ongoing changes,” Abigail Alvarez-Carrero (‘23) said.

And honor society students aren’t the only ones struggling.

“Everytime they change Power Hour it just throws everyone off their schedule. I have tutoring sessions that my teachers only offer during Power Hour and I use the extra time to go to their classroom to make up quizzes and classwork,” Michael Gukian (‘26) said.

School work isn’t the only thing students spend time completing.

“Personally, Power Hour works better for me because I can do student rehabs during this time,” Mr. Christopher Serafin said. 

The football team can be found performing yoga in the back gym during the second half of Power Hour, as some students use this time to complete types of conditioning and physical activities. 

“During Power Hour I use the time to cut weight for wrestling. I run the hallways, I jump rope, and then sometimes I do workouts in the back gym,” Neko Mitchell (‘24) said. 

Although some students are very passionate about Power Hour staying for good, some don’t feel the same need to continue it next year.

“I know a lot of my fellow students really enjoy Power Hour, but I think it’s overrated. I don’t care if they get rid of it next year,” Marin Curtin (‘25) said.

Even though their opinions may differ, the inconsistency of the schedule seems to annoy all.

“Even if I did enjoy Power Hour I would still find it annoying that they keep taking it away and then giving it back. I’m tired of having to figure out which days we have and which we don’t,” Paige Hunter (‘26) said.

Not only do these constant changes confuse people, but it has caused missed deadlines.

“I had interviews planned to get done during Power Hour before break that never got done so I had zeros in the gradebook because of it,” Paige Hunter (‘26) explained.

The common reasoning for the hour getting taken away tends to be that students can’t control themselves. However the students who really need it, aren’t the ones causing these problems.

“It’s just a lot of freshmen that keep causing us to lose it. The upperclassmen who need the extra time for classes aren’t the issue here,” Ruth Chung (‘25) explained.

While some students take the time to build beneficial habits, other students can be found “twerking in the hallways,” Mr. Aaron Tlumack claims.

“As someone who has a busy schedule with sports after school, Power Hour has really helped with getting work done and staying on schedule. I definitely like this more than the previous years’ schedule,” Frantz Fulcher (‘24) said.

Having the extra time helps create balance in some students’ lives. 

“I use power hour as a way to get ahead on homework and relax. I’ll normally spend half of lunch talking with my friends and then the other half doing homework so there’s a balance,” Ella Fulmer (‘25) said. 

In response to the problems and complaints surrounding Power Hour, and to try to keep it operational, Principal Gregory Daniel has made adjustments he believes will help solve the issues.

“Before they closed the academic wings I would usually put some earbuds in and walk up and down the hallways. It would give me time to decompress and hang out with my friends,” Keiran Murphy (‘24) said. 

Although when Power Hour was primarily introduced to students, there were no restrictions limiting their ability to roam wherever they pleased, these new adjustments will only permit students to roam around in the cafeteria and gym, as the academic wings will be “quiet zones” where students can only sit and eat. Food and drinks will still not be allowed in the gym, but the bleachers will be taken out for the duration of the hour.

The quiet zones will be monitored by security and teachers, who have also voiced their opinions on the Hour. 

“I have mixed feelings about it, but I definitely still think there’s some bugs that need to be worked out. There’s other schools that are causing problems and unfortunately it falls down to Forge, so they’re trying to alleviate fights and make sure kids get tutoring. I’m still not sure what the answer is myself though,” Mr. Roger Pinkston said. 

Not all students stick to either adoring it or not caring for it, as some students understand both arguments.

“I think Power Hour was a good idea, everyone just needs to execute it better. I can understand why the school feels the need to pull back from it, but I don’t think it’s worth completely taking away,” Ash Mose (‘25) said.