If you happen to be a student reading this (which was the audience it was intended for), then congratulations! It seems like you've made it through another school year! (We all have, actually!)
If you're about to become a freshman in Clear Creek ISD going to Clear Horizons, then you've officially come to the right blog! This blog features a guide on how to survive Clear Horizons Early College High School! (If you're not in CCISD and/or you're not going to CHECHS, please don't leave just yet. Like the description says, this guide will try to be as relevant as it can be to everybody, especially the high school students.)
Before I even think about adding on what to do and what NOT to do on campus (which will likely be featured in the next blog post), I'd like to tell you the routine I go through myself every day I'm in school. (This was when I was a freshman - next year, I'm a sophomore, so it MAY be the same - but hey, we never know what could happen.)
My day would start by getting up at 5:30 AM every morning. (No, that's not a typo.) I would then get ready for the day, which consists of taking a shower, getting dressed, eating breakfast, and getting whatever is needed for the school day. I do all of those activities in about 45 minutes, because I have to head out the door about 6:15 AM in order to catch my morning bus at 6:25 AM. After getting on the bus, I usually end up just enjoying the ride, because I'm the one that tries to sit on the front seats of the bus whenever I can.
I get off my bus at 6:40 AM, and I have arrived at Clear Springs High School. Not the school I really want, so what do I do? I go in the school and talk with a few of my friends (usually my best friends) while I wait for the CHECHS bus to come pick us up about 7:10 AM before it leaves at 7:15 AM (7:05 AM for Clear Creek HS/Clear Falls HS). Again, on the bus ride, I usually just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride, knowing that you've likely got a big day ahead of you.
After 25-35 minutes (depending on traffic), I finally arrive at the school I'm enrolled in: Clear Horizons Early College High School. Unlike a lot of other high schools, there's no fixed place to sit and wait - you can be anywhere that's not out of boundaries (defined by Clear Horizons). Also unlike the other high schools, we have an advisory period every day in the morning, which starts at 8:00 AM. Advisory is where we go through the pledges, the minute of silence, the Daily News, and whatever else there is in Advisory, if anything else. If nothing else, then the rest of the time is used for tutorials. Whether there is something usually depends on what day it is and if we have a lesson for Advisory on a particular day.
Here's our normal schedule for Clear Horizons... I know the schedule seems a little weird, but once you know exactly what to do, it's pretty easy going from there.
Contrary to what my belief was at first, I had thought some people were going to have to rush and move fast to catch the bus back home, as after our last period, we had only 5 minutes from the end of class to getting on the bus. Now that I think about it, I'm not even sure how I thought that anymore, as by examining the schedule - it's simply not possible. I probably thought that because I thought some classes were a little ways away, but nope - pretty much all Clear Horizons high school classes are in Building 9, which is where the buses pick up and drop off (right in front of the building). Unless something miraculous happens with scheduling, you probably won't be having a college class on the last period of the school day. I've never heard of it happening to someone, but they say it's possible!
After our last period is dismissed at 3:20 PM, we go back home. You can either find a ride home or catch the bus back home. For demonstration purposes, because I've done this at least 150 times in my 9th grade year, I'll demonstrate the commute back home.
On Monday - Thursday, the bus goes back to your zoned intermediate school (for me, it was Victory Lakes Intermediate), where you then ride your neighborhood bus back home. When you get there, you will likely have a little bit of waiting time (about 5-10 minutes). This time is mainly good for going to the bathroom and socializing with anybody else nearby. That amount of time, to me, is not really a gap of time where I could get some work done (that's usually due to preparation in starting to get schoolwork done, which could be getting out papers, turning on your computer, etc., in addition to packing up when time's almost up, like putting away the papers, turning off your computer, etc.) So that's that. After waiting, getting home from the intermediate school is usually just as simple as getting on the bus, getting off at your bus stop, then walking back home.
On Friday, it's a completely different story, especially because dismissal is NOT at 3:20 PM - it is 1:00 PM on Fridays, with the buses leaving at 1:30 PM. If you don't believe me, or you want to see the Friday schedule, take a look at this screenshot below. (Note: There are no college classes for students on Friday.)
So that's the routine I follow (of course, everyone's commutes are different). Now you have a general idea of what the routine is if you take the bus every single time. However, I would like to point out that there are a few times where bus transportation is either limited or not available. The most popular factor here is Late Arrival. Clear Horizons does NOT participate in Late Arrival (my guess is because of San Jac and the college class schedule), therefore you're still expected to arrive at 8:00 AM on Late Arrival days. The catch? There's no neighborhood buses to transport you from your bus stop to your zoned high school, so you'll at the very least have to arrange your own transportation to the zoned high school. The Clear Horizons buses still run at their normal time, though.
One more thing - I've heard that even though CCISD's Thanksgiving holiday break is observed for a full week, SJC's holiday break starts on Wednesday. That means that unless your professors cancelled or you announced your planned absence beforehand, you will have school on Monday/Tuesday, but you won't have any high school classes because of CCISD's holiday - you will only have SJC's college classes on those two days during the break that the College starts observing in the middle of the week. I'm not sure if the College is doing it again for the 2016-2017 school year, but my guess is pretty confident that they'll likely do the exact same thing again.
Even though this is only my first post, I'd still like to thank you guys for even reading this guide! For the time being, stay tuned for the next post, which will likely feature some tips on what to do and what not to do on campus!
If'd you like, you can follow me on Twitter. My Twitter is @TweetingTayne. I retweet funny stuff (been doing that a LOT recently), post about what's going on around me, and vice versa. If I know you as a friend, I'll be more than welcome to follow you back! :)
