“There’s so much more to life than sleep” said Wyoming Catholic College sophomore Janelle Witzaney last semester. And it appears her school agrees with a new, shocking, and tiring-sounding class schedule just put up around campus that could see students have to wake up two or even three hours earlier every day. Several shocked students took one look, and as with senior Robert Belken exclaimed in horror: “My boy… I just looked at one of the least congenial class schedules I think I’ve ever seen.”
Classes usually begin at 8:30AM, or 8:00AM at the earliest and finish up to around 4PM at Lander, WY based Wyoming Catholic College but a “shake-up” hinted at in memos leaked to WikiLeaks three years ago suggested that this running schedule would eventually change. And with the school having completed the feat of installing working phone lines in over half of the dorms, a year’s long goal, and caught up with several other smaller projects, it appears they decided to go ahead with their long-planned change.
This semester, in a stunning change, classes will begin at 6:00AM and continue until just before noon, with Mass pushed back to noon and Lunch until 12:30PM. Afternoon classes will be eliminated with the earlier timing but with classes starting this early most students will now have to wake up at 4:30AM or earlier just to get to breakfast, which will now run from 4:30 to 6:00AM.
Most students have not yet looked at their schedules, something which explains the lack of general protest as of yet to the planned changes. WCC Security, even as they note that some students will appreciate having afternoons off expects a general mood of anger over the idea of early classes. School officials reportedly are touting open afternoons in the new schedule as a huge plus for community life and outdoor recreation, but it’s still a huge question as to why the school found it necessary to make such a radical adjustment.
“Things we’re going great, I was enjoying lots of sleep and then they have to mess it all up,” complains Marcus Gardner, a WCC junior from Virginia. “For what?” he continued, querying with an expression of bluster and a bit of confusion. Professors will have to endure the new schedule as well, so it has to be for a reason that could get their approval, but IIT analysts still can’t figure out why either.
School officials, without explaining why things were changed, are attempting to defend it, however. “This only continues a long term trend and was a moderate middle of the road approach,” assistant director of student life Madison Anderson commented to IIT. “There was an alternate plan to begin classes at 4AM and have them continue till 4PM that we talked about.”
Nathan Butler, also of WCC administration, also commented that timing doesn’t really change anything. “You can still get your four hours of sleep. Just go to bed at midnight rather than 3AM and you’ll feel like nothing’s changed.
WCC is also rumored to change curfew to begin at 8PM during the week.