Maryam Hafeez

The International Day For Achievers, March 24th, is an annual holiday for celebrating achievers and their strong sense of purpose and confidence. It honors any major or minute achievement someone might accomplish before or during that day, meaning anyone can participate. On this day a common achievement for many is to further their education, easily quantifying their hard work and dedication.

Maryanne Cimasko, a supported study hall teacher, said she enjoys helping students grow and becoming their best selves. Cimasko described how her class works, having the goal of helping students achieve their goals.

“Supported study hall’s supposed to cap at 15, so that would give me more one-on-one time with the student. The first time students and I meet every week, be it a Monday or a Tuesday, we get on PowerSchool and we go through the grades, we look at all the assignments—whatever’s missing,” she said.

According to The74, students with mentors gained between .06 and .48 points of grade point average, were between 18 to 35 percent less likely to fail a course, and were 10 to 25 percentage points more likely to attend college.

Cimasko said class benefits students significantly, allowing them to be productive, finish their work, and keep up with specific curriculum, no matter what type of student.

“They’re just a lot more comfortable because by being in here, you’ve bought yourself an extra 90 minutes of time. And for some, all (they) need is that extra 90 minutes. We have a secret magic equation of life to get through high school. You gotta do three things: you turn stuff in, you get points, you pass the class,” she said. “When you look at it that way, it’s not so hard to get out of here. But sometimes you have to step back when you’re overwhelmed and just look at that and say if I turn stuff in, and I get some points, I’m gonna pass the class, and I’m done.” 

She said she experiences all types of students, ranging from many different class difficulties and work ethics.

“I have a range that you would never believe in a million years. When I tell people the range of students that I have, they’re like, that could not possibly happen in Carmel Indiana. I’ll have kids GPA wise from a 1.4 to people in here with a 5.0 gpa. Again, whatever it takes,” Cimasko said.

Junior Tanay Acharya, who takes seven weighted classes along with being on the tennis team, Quizbowl, Science Olympiad, Math Club, debate and possibly other clubs just for fun, said he believes that he has achieved a lot this year. He also said that because of the virtual to in-person transition, his work ethic and goals have changed drastically. 

“The transition from hybrid learning was initially difficult because last year, I got into a bad procrastinating habit that was hard to break. But as my classes ramped up this year, I got back into the groove of a regular school year and have no such issues,” he said. “I think that this year, I have started to achieve more, both with my grades and my extracurriculars.”

He said he reaches his goals in many ways, making sure he is consistent with a schedule everyday.

“To reach my goals, I have to put in a little bit of effort every day so that whatever I am doing doesn’t become too overwhelming and I am still able to put my best work and effort forward,” he said.

Similarily, Cimasko varies how she keeps students engaged during SRT.

 “There really is no typical day in an educational support study hall. On any given day, it depends on where the students are. (Some)times everybody’s got English papers due, or it’s a day where the whole math department is testing. There’s days we’ll be memorizing amendments for Government—it just depends on the day. Then there are days if we have to do a project, let’s say for U.S. history, we might watch a movie that has to do with the project we’re working on. So, I get to do things that the teachers don’t necessarily have time to do in class.”

Acharya said his accomplishments bring him satisfaction and happiness. He feels relieved when completing time-consuming assignments and feels accomplished when he does well on assessments in school. 

“After I accomplish a goal, I always feel good about myself, regardless of the size of the achievement. Obviously, I am sometimes more happy with meeting specific goals than others, but on the whole, I am elated with my performance when things go my way,” Acharya said. “Depending on the size of the achievement, I celebrate it in different ways: if it is something small like a good test grade, then I don’t really do much except feel good about myself, but if it something more substantial like competition performances, then I my mom and I will get some takeout food to celebrate.”