An advisory period has been added to the schedule this year to accommodate Mustangs Read and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) which target academic and social skills.

This required the addition of a fifth lunch period. Mustangs Read is every Tuesday and Wednesday with SEL on Mondays and Thursdays.

Mustangs Read is a time set aside for students to read any literature of their choice. Librarian LeRay Havard said reading can help students become leaders by teaching them skills that improve empathy and understanding their own identity.

“Students are usually just being told to read, and sometimes they do not enjoy what they are being told to do,” Havard said. “In Mustangs Read, we are hoping that students will love reading, and they will carry on that love past high school.”

Junior Sara Grob said Mustangs Read has helped her study more and destress. She also said that reading is important to all students.

“I do not read as much as others do, but I believe that reading has a lot of benefits,” Grob said. “Reading books help improve our vocabulary and comprehension, which a lot of us students need. I hope that Mustangs Read will help me and other students appreciate reading more.”

SEL’s main goal is to help students learn stress relief skills, organizational strategies and motivation to work harder. Counselor Brandi Primm said SEL is the school’s response to the rising numbers of stressed students.

“Even if students are not diagnosed with depression or anxiety, somewhere in their lives they will encounter something that will cause anxious or depressive feelings,” Primm said. “We want to give them toolkits they can use when dealing with these feelings in the future.”

Spanish teacher Henry Pabon believes SEL is a great way for students to relax while learning something that will be useful to their lives. He also said the lessons learned in SEL will be useful to teachers as well.

“In SEL, we learned about motivation and achieving our goals, which is important for teachers and students alike,” Pabon said. “Education is not just about science, math or language. Learning should also involve dealing with emotions and the people around us.”