Starting this school year, Viking Time takes place after second and first period on Wednesdays and Thursdays, respectively, rather than after fourth and third period. School administrators changed this because previously, Viking Time had been connected to first lunch on both days, resulting in some students leaving prematurely for lunch during Viking Time. Members of Inglemoor faculty voted to move Viking Time back a period in an effort to separate lunch and Viking Time. According to Librarian and Northshore Education Association representative Julie Westerbeck (she/her), staff voted on this change through an anonymous poll in April after a preliminary decision-making team approved it. Westerbeck said that in general, decisions like these require a 70-80% majority vote, and the vote to change the Viking Time schedule passed with minimal opposition. 

Accommodations to give GMI enough time to complete the show and keep lunch at a reasonable time were made accordingly. Westerbeck said that although it is still too early to measure the impact of this change, the separation of Viking Time and lunch will have positive benefits to students’ social and academic activities. 

Westerbeck said that if the schedule change stops students from leaving campus, then students are at school for a valuable free period during which they can study, spend time with friends or find a sense of belonging with a school club.

“That’s always a really good thing,” said Westerbeck. “Research always tells us that if kids feel like they belong in a school, they have that connection point. It helps so many things.”