The first student poll of 2023 at Tuscarora High School was conducted this past week, and the results are interesting. The poll was about how students used their Tusky Time, which is a big institution at Tuscarora. It makes up 10% of each seven hour school day, and consists of ten minutes of reading followed by thirty minutes of student choice, whether it be instruction, reading, consulting with teachers, working on schoolwork, or winding down from a hard first block.

The majority of students, at 62.6%, polled chose the Study Hall option, which meant that they spend the majority of their Tusky Time working on homework or projects.

  “It gives me time to study for upcoming tests and to get better grades,” said Junior Sydney Nicklas. Tusky Time is a large block of time throughout the day, so it makes sense that the students use their time wisely. 

33.9% of the students polled selected the Downtime option, which included being on their phones or sleeping or simply just winding down and catching up with friends in their class. “It is my little brain break,” said Junior Audrey Acerno, “School is hard and I want to wind down.”
The last portion of the poll, with 3.4% of the responses, students chose reading. “It gives me a chance to take a break from schoolwork and social media, and gives my brain a chance to relax,” quoted Olly Murphy. Part of Tusky Time includes Rise Read, the mandatory reading period for all students, so some students may want to continue reading for the rest of Tusky Time. 

None of the students polled chose the Consulting with Teachers choice which may mean that a wider variety of students will need to be polled next time to account for any data gaps. The poll description said student responses can be from previous years, in addition to this year due to the fact that there had only been three Tusky Time days before the poll was released. 

Students seem to use Tusky Time for studious reasons, which can provide valuable insight on how effective Tusky Time is and if students actually like it. While being a big part of every school day at Tuscarora, Tusky Time proves itself as effective for students to use as a study hall or a downtime during the long school day.