Thirty students crammed into a class; if you didn’t arrive early it was hopeless to even find a desk. This was senior Amber Roberts’ reality when she took a study hall at the beginning of her junior year.

“Last year I took a study hall, and there was little to no studying. I got an open period and I thought it was such a better use of my time,” Roberts said.

Opens have started to replace electives with their reliability and advantages. A lot of students, especially seniors, have opens because they are found to be much more useful.

“They had originally scheduled me for psychology, and I thought eight classes was just way too much,” Roberts said.

She said she uses her open fifth to study and hang out with friends. She also goes home sometimes to get stuff done or review for a test in the media center.

Senior Kaidin Phelan also has an open.

“They just gave it to me,” Phelan said. “I had accounting in its place, but they said it was full.”

Since his last period of the day is an open he gets to go home early, giving him extra time in the day.

“I go home and do my homework,” Phelan said. “I am pretty happy with a seventh open.”