The infamous closed Seminar has been a rather common topic of discussion recently at De Soto High School.

Twice a month, Friday Seminar is closed, meaning no traveling to get help with homework, make up missed tests, etc.

“We have closed seminar to give Seminar teachers and students an opportunity to check grades and set goals [for the next few weeks],” English teacher Donna Rhodes said.

Although the concept of closed Seminar is meant to help students, many are not seeing the benefits.

“There’s no point in closed Seminar,” sophomore Luke Hammontree said. “It’s not really helpful at all … Sometimes I have to get help on something, but I can’t.”

Teachers agree that students not being able to travel back and forth on certain days can be an inconvenience.

“I don’t really like having the entire seminar closed, just because some kids need to go see a teacher that particular day. Especially right before the weekend, they have questions they need to be answered, and they can’t travel,” Rhodes said.

On the other hand, some believe having one closed seminar every two weeks should not be and is not that big of a problem.

“My observation from my freshman seminar class is that [closed seminar] does not hurt the students,” Spanish teacher Carolyn Rodriguez said. “Perhaps it would be different if they were not freshmen. Perhaps they would have more work [as upper classmen], but my class has seemed to be able to get all their work done and have extra time in seminar.”

Many teachers use closed seminar to their advantage, in the way the concept was designed for.

“I use [closed seminar] to have students look at their grades and set their goals. I meet with each of them personally for a few seconds. It takes the whole seminar to get to all of them,” Rhodes said.

Other seminars, such as voyagers, use it for different reasons that benefit them specifically.

“[During closed seminars] we do activities as a whole group that challenge us,” freshman Kirsten Stous said. “It’s helpful because it challenges us as a whole group since we’re in the gifted program.

The concept of closed seminar is meant to help students keep track of their grades, but some think it needs revision so students may also have time to meet with other teachers as well.

“I think it should be mandatory to set goals and check grades sometime every other week. Maybe just have half the seminar closed to get that accomplished,” Rhodes said.

Students and staff agree that closed seminar has benefits, but should not be as strict as it currently is.