By MEGAN OVERTON / Guest Columnist

I have been on a year-round calendar my whole life. Although we are no longer on the exact same schedule of nine weeks in school then three weeks out that I started with in kindergarten, the Shelby County Board of Education still feels that it is a nuisance. Our schedule has morphed to where there isn’t a huge difference from other schools.

One of the main reasons I enjoy this calendar is the advantages of being out of school when everyone else is in school. This cuts down on crowds considerably. If you ever get the chance to go to a theme park on a Tuesday in the middle of the year, you can ride a rollercoaster, get off, and then get right back on.

Although that may be just a typical teenage remark, I do have more mature ones.

My family is a two-income family. With my dad only getting so many vacation days a month, he is more likely to get time off when no one else is asking for it.

It is also more convenient to schedule doctors appointments. Scheduling appointments during a break allows students to avoid missing class time and having makeup work or being lost in class the next day.

For me it is nice to go just long enough to actually get tired of school and then have a break. It is also nice to have a mental break instead of trying to cram more information in your head.

As one who has a lot of friends from different schools, having a different schedule is a definite plus. Since our graduation date is after everyone else’s, we can attend our friends’ graduations from other schools, as well as our own.

Even though the fate of our calendar is unknown, one thing is for sure. As long as the community wants the calendar, we will fight for it.

Megan Overton is a 10th-grade student at Vincent High School