Tis' the season for three-ring binders, book bags, graphing calculators and countless hours spent on homework every night. As the school year advances into full swing, students at Freedom are still adjusting to the new bell and class schedule.

This year FHS has added a fifth block to the semester-based schedule. As of fall 2014, a 40-minute "PATE Block" was inserted after second block, prior to lunches. PATE Block is divided in the same way a homeroom is: by grade level and alphabetical order.

"I think PATE Block is a good time throughout the day to work on college essays and applications, while also working on our social skills," said Anissa Vasquez, FHS senior. "A lot of the other students dislike PATE Block and think it's pointless, but I feel it is a good tool and enjoy the time given to work on college related things, especially because many seniors have jobs or school work."

PATE Block is a time dedicated to help explore career pathways, make academic connections, plan thoughtfully, and have experiences that build relationships. It will also be used as remediation for students who did not pass the Keystone standardized test, which is a graduation requirement for all students of FHS.

For upperclassmen, PATE Block is more geared towards college and career preparation, including, but not limited to interviewing skills and getting acquainted with the application process. In order to fit PATE Block into the daily schedule, 10 minutes has been taken away from each academic block.

"I feel as everything in PATE Block could be accomplished even if we didn't have it daily," said Donna Roman, FHS history teacher. "If it was only scheduled twice a week, we would have time to recoup some instructional time and still maximizes career exploration."

In addition, Naviance, a computer-based college and career readiness tool, has also been integrated into the block.

"I have seniors in my PATE block, and we worked out a very nice system," said Dr. Carla Krieger, FHS science teacher. "We originally did the lessons regarding what they felt PATE Block should be; they indicated they thought it would be more useful to them if they had time to work on homework and projects and so forth. As we get more into Naviance, I feel it will assist the seniors more."

As the school year continues, administration feels as if more students will begin to understand and take advantage of the new period. During the first few weeks of school, PATE Block has gotten off to a slow start. Once both the students and teachers get accompanied to the change, however, the results could be extremely beneficial.

"I don't really like PATE Block because it takes time away from my other classes that I could be learning actual information. However, it seems to be working better for the upperclassmen with the college process," said Brian Seitz, sophomore.