Gardner Edgerton High School is ranked the sixth best high school in the state of Kansas, according to 2013 News and World Report. The multipurpose activities center is currently being built and there have been several other changes made as well. According to some students though, there are still many changes that could be made to further improve GEHS.

“I don’t really like the manic days that we have. I just feel like we have so many classes and it gets overwhelming,” freshman Tanner Oehm said. Oehm also said he would like it if there were more architecture classes available.

“I think we should have a little bit more variety in the foreign language department,” junior Austin Bettes said. He stated that it would be beneficial if more foreign languages besides Spanish and French were available.

Along with more classes, some people are also asking for more clubs. To create a new club, there needs to be at least three or four students who want to make it and they need to get a teacher approval. They also need to have a sponsor.

“There are a lot of kids who do Rubik’s Cube stuff, so we need a club for that. We also need a computer club for people who like to do things on the computer, like [playing] Minecraft,” Bettes said.

“[Activities and sports I wish we had are] fighting, like martial arts, cage fighting, boxing, kick boxing,” sophomore Guy Cauthon said.

Combat is not the only type of activity students have been asking for. “It’d be cool if we had a lacrosse team,” senior Klayton Ranz said.

Federal law requires all students except seniors to attend a minimum of 186 days of school, while seniors are required to attend school for 181 days. This cannot be changed by students, but when asked about how long the school year should be there were a variety of answers.

“Maybe like half a month to a month a year,” Oehm said.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, “I would probably make it all year, just with a lot more breaks in between. Studies show that in other places of the world that do have all year long school, it does help them learn a lot better,” Bettes said.

Another issue some teens say GEHS has is the dress code.

“We don’t need any more changes [to the dress code], just more enforcement on it,” Bettes said.

The rule teenage girls are supposed to follow for shorts is that they cannot be any shorter than above their fingertips.

“[If I could change anything about the dress code I would] make the girls wear longer shorts to school,” Cauthon said.

Not all of the students are concerned about the dress code. “I think it’s fine. I wouldn’t change anything about it,” junior Jordan Eubanks said.

GEHS students are required to attend pep assemblies, but some of them dislike having to go to all of them.

“I wish they could be optional, because really sometimes, people have a lot of homework or they don’t like that crowded atmosphere. I feel like if they want to stay back during seminar and do work or something, then I would let them do that,” Cauthon said.

Despite the minor changes some students wish could be made to GEHS, many students said there is plenty to like about the school as well.

“[My favorite aspect about the high school so far is] that we don’t have to go to every class every day,” Oehm said.

Every year GEHS changes in some way, whether it be in the variety of kids who go there, rules and regulations, or bringing in new ideas to help improve the overall quality of the high school. Some kids are satisfied with the way things are going, while others are still anxiously awaiting further improvement. Whatever the case, GEHS is an ever changing place where thousands of kids will go to spend, and possibly enjoy, their high school career.