Campus beautification and study table: The newest additions to NDB’s discipline policy. The first is fairly obvious.  A student has to beautify campus by cleaning up any trash.  But, the second has a catch. It is a 6 to 8 a.m. study hall where electronics are strictly prohibited.  It is also held during the school week or on a Saturday. It does the job of a detention which, as of the start of this school year, NDB does not do anymore.

Students can avoid both by staying in dress code and wearing their uniform, staying off their cellphones and not texting friends or making TikTok’s, and just following the guidelines, policies, and rules listed in the NDB parent/student handbook.

So far, only a handful of students have had to participate in study table, and only a few of them have had to come in on a Saturday morning.

Front Desk Receptionist and Senior Class Co-Moderator Mirna Yao is usually on-campus at 6 a.m. or before every morning, so she almost always monitors  study table.

“I get here early and check people in, and the student has to do homework for two hours,” she said.

Some students do not like study table because that means they would have to wake up really early.  Some of them have had a late night of sports practice, work, and/or homework and have a hard time getting up and going to school so early.

Sophomore Caroline Lawrence has spent a weekend morning for  study table.

“I had to come in at 8 a.m. on a Saturday, which, honestly, wasn’t that bad because I got a lot of my homework done that I had for the weekend,” Lawrence said.

“But, I know that, if I had to have come in on a school day at 6 a.m., I would have been a lot more upset than I was,” she added.

Assistant Dean of Student Relations Alisia Bergholm has a different opinion.

“I like the study tables. It gives more time for the students to do some work that they have to catch up on and to really understand what they did, as opposed to them just coming in after school for an hour detention and filing papers or something else,” she said.

Social Sciences teacher Jonathan Tomczak is in favor of study table and believes that they are beneficial to the students.

“Study table serve two purposes. On the one hand, we want students to spend more time actively looking at their work. But, for others, it’s a form of reflection and an opportunity to realize what negative action they’ve taken to be saddled with a study table,” he said.

“So, I think, if students are using that opportunity, genuinely, to reflect on their work and their past actions, then that can be incredibly beneficial,” he continued.

Spiritual Life Department Chair Ynez Manalo is against study table and prefers detention.

“I think that it was good for students to give back to the Notre Dame community when they were serving detention after school, rather than not getting sleep,” she says.

Students used to be able to do detention in one hour on a Tuesday or Thursday afternoon, helping faculty or staff with general office work.

“It’s less productive because no one wants to be there at six in the morning, and it sucks having to do work when you’re forced to,” senior Lakin Walsh said about study table.

Starting off a day so bright and early, it is a given that students will feel negatively about study table, but teachers will feel differently. Because campus beautification and study table are new additions, they are still in the process of being evaluated in consideration of detention.