Central High School’s foundation is built on many traditions. The school opened in 1907, making it one of Chattanooga’s first public high schools. Central is also celebrating 50 years on Highway 58 this year, after being rebuilt at its current location in 1969. The vast history of the school and its ongoing establishment adds on to the extent of various traditions. Even though Central aims to preserve timeless traditions, some changes have to be made accordingly.

This year, a significant change regarding advisory has been made. Advisory commenced at the beginning of each Friday, right before first period, for many years. However, this year, advisory has been moved to after second period, and will only convene one Friday a month.

“Central High is a school with a rich history. It has many long standing traditions and has marked itself as a school of excellence. It is on this tradition of excellence that the Central High of today desires to build. Although we are a school with an excellent foundation, we want to continue our journey of excellence as we move into this new season and beyond,” Principal Phil Iannarone stated, concerning his decision on the matter.

Iannarone also states that this change will bring about a more effective use of advisory time. The decision was made for the well-being of the students and staff and serves to promote academic achievements. Although this was the ultimate reason for why the schedule was changed, there are also other reasons.

“A lot of the past seniors have been skipping advisory and just coming to first period every Friday,” Guidance Counselor Shea Vetterick explained.

Even though this decision was made with the intent to benefit everyone, some seniors have contrasting views on the adjustment. Change is always a difficult concept to accept, especially if something has been a certain way for a while. Some people had reservations about disrupting the flow of their day, and some had reservations since they used advisory to finish homework.

“I do not like advisory in the middle of the day, because I do not like change, since advisory was not like this last year,” Senior Alejandro Salazar said.

“I like it the old way better. It feels like this is a little bit disruptive. Advisory was used as a study hall at the beginning of the day. I get the reason [why it changed] since a lot of people were skipping it, but not everyone was, so it feels a bit rash. I liked how dependable it was to have advisory every Friday,” Senior James Ortiz stated.

Though there are certain aspects of the new schedule many individuals have to adjust to, advisory commencing after second period was meant for the best, as the school administrators put much thought and consideration into the decision. The current situation will be monitored throughout the year in order to decide if the new schedule is worthy of continuation.

“With excellence as our standard and going to the next level as our goal, we sift everything we do and every decision we make through our vision of ‘being a Model School of Excellence’,” Iannarone concluded.