This December, the GWUOHS Student Council hosted weekly study sessions, providing a quiet space for students to tackle their schoolwork alongside their peers. These open assemblies were designed to foster accountability and motivation, helping students stay productive while feeling like they belong to a community.
Student Council vice president Audrey B., along with the remainder of the executive team, took the lead in organizing the study sessions. Through this new initiative, she hoped to tackle specific studying obstacles that she found to be common in online school.
“The goal was mainly to help with community building and concentration at an online school because, for me, like, being in my bedroom working or at home feels like I get less focused not in an academic setting. So, having other students that I know working on school as well helps me just be more concentrated,” Audrey said.
The Student Council held an initial study session on Nov. 12 to test out the new idea. After hearing positive feedback from students, the council started consistently hosting one every Wednesday in December. The team plans to continue the study sessions throughout the year.
At the start of each session, all attendees shared a list of the work they planned to complete. The majority of the time after was spent silently completing independent work. At the end of the hour, the students reconvened and reflected on what they were each able to get done.
Senior Annika O. joined the first study session to support her friends who had organized it. But she kept attending the next ones after finding that the group environment was a big help for her to stay focused and productive.
“I think it’s a little bit of accountability because you tell everyone what you’re planning to do and honestly, I think I’d feel guilty if I went on Instagram or did something else while in the session,” Annika said.
Freshman Samantha M. had a similar experience. She felt that being surrounded by her friends and classmates who were also working on schoolwork helped her stay motivated.
“They help me a lot because I’m a huge procrastinator, and when I’m there, I kind of feel obligated to do my work,” Samantha said. “I also like sharing at the end that I actually got something done.
The Student Council created a Microsoft Teams group chat to keep the regular attendees connected outside of the live assemblies.
Audrey sees these study sessions as simply the start of the Student Council’s efforts to support students academically, in addition to socially.
“This is kind of a gateway for the Student Council to get more involved in the academic side of GW,” Audrey said. “In the second semester, we’re going to focus on creating that academic library we discussed during our elections, which will involve reaching out to teachers and former students of certain classes to get real advice.”
