Manual had the first Crimson Hour of the 2018 – 2019 school year today, Sept. 14.

Crimson Hour is a one hour time period between second and third block that allows students to meet with teachers, make up schoolwork, eat lunch, catch up on homework, and handle other responsibilities that they can’t get to during the regular school day.

Students are able to access all parts of the building and choose when they eat lunch so they can have flexibility in order to get what they need to get done on their own time.

Students were scattered all over the building and a popular meeting place for students to communicate and study with their friends was the auditorium.

Because this was implemented during the 2017-2018 school year, this was a new experience for the new freshman this year.

One thing new freshman students found helpful was the availability of teachers and other meetings hosted by the magnets.

“I really like how you can get help from teachers if you need it, and I don’t have a study skills so it was especially helpful for me,” Esther Biro (9, MST) said.

Crimson Hour allows all students to eat lunch with whoever they want, where they want.

“I really liked how you could have lunch with whoever you wanted, and I had a really good time meeting with my senior mentor for J&C. It was a big stress reliever,” KC Ciresi (9, J&C) said.

Students also addressed their concerns about how it was organized, and how they think Manual can improve Crimson Hour.

“I liked it, but the lines were too long for lunch, so I think the lunches should be organized better,” Aras Shirwan (9, MST) said.

While this was just an experiment last year, Crimson Hour is expected to consistently come back once on a Friday during every grading period of the school year due to the positive responses from students.