For students unsure about the future, a fifth year is a great option. 

By: Clementine Chaton, Faye St-Germain, and Linnea Yrikzmann

Looking around the halls of KCI we tend to notice a lot of graduated students who’ve returned for another year/semester, but why? Were their grades too low? Did they miss school? Questions began to brew in our heads, so we took it upon ourselves to ask them. We have interviewed a small number of fifth years to understand why there are so many of them in our beloved school.

When asked the question “Why did you want to take a fifth year?” We got many similar responses, most of which were because students did not know what they wanted to study in university, or just did not know what they wanted to do after high school at all. One of our interviewees, Cullen Derry, comments “I didn't know what I wanted to do yet for university, I felt a lot of pressure from people to go….I didn't want to rush into it and invest fifty grand into something I wasn't even sure about because I don't want to end up working just a corporate job.” 

Now why should students take a fifth year instead of a gap year? Most answered this question saying that they needed something in the morning to keep a schedule, to stay consistent and to not get off track. But, of course, there are cons to everything. Taking a fifth year meant parting ways with your friends, “Walking into school you get that feeling of ‘Oh I’m gonna see all my friends at lunch’ and then they aren’t there, it’s just not the same,” remarked Cullen. On the upside of not having too many friends, fifth years find it easier to focus and to work with little distractions. 

Everyone who we interviewed said that taking a fifth year was a good decision for them, “It gives me time to think about where I actually want to go with a career and not just get into university and then start to stress about all of my work.” explained Jack Scheifele. Furthermore, Cullen Derry noted, “In reality, it’s only a one year difference.” 

Students in fifth years also observed that there was no influence to take a fifth year, and if anything it would have been the opposite, being influenced more to go to university as most students' friends are in post-secondary education, far away. The schoolwork in fifth year is mostly light work, remarked most of the students, although some students are in fifth years in order to up their average, and are taking harder classes. 

We wondered if it was odd to be surrounded by new classmates after all four years spent with the same crowd getting used to familiar faces. Most students said that although it is a change, it’s not that bad because they know people who are a year younger than them. 

The general thoughts from others when students told people they were taking a fifth year were all positive, parents, teachers, guidance counselors, and peers were all supportive. As a last question to the students, we asked if they would consider taking a sixth year. Everyone said no, that is way too much high school. Students said that it's good to have the option of taking a fifth year, it's not frowned upon to take a fifth year, so if you need extra time it's good to have the option of taking one, going straight to university or taking a gap year.

Next, we searched for an adult’s view on the subject and who better to ask than the Guidance Counselors at KCI. When asked if there were many students who thought about taking a fifth year, but then changed their minds, guidance said not too many students. Out of those who consider, many are less likely to follow through because a lot of the time kids are just scared that they will not get into their chosen programs. But, the percentage of students who get into their chosen program is pretty high. 

The fact that guidance counselors do not tell students often to take a fifth year makes a lot of kids not consider it an option. It seems as if students should go straight into university after graduation, and like Mrs.Kenning said “As humans, we often do what we’re supposed to”. 

She also mentioned how when she was in high school, they had a mandatory fifth year, and “It was great because when I went off to university, I was 19 so I had some extra time to grow and develop and was also able to really think about what I wanted to do.” Should KCI return to the mandatory fifth year? Yes and no, were the replies we got. Mrs.Kenning states “I think it really depends on the student. I think it's possible to get to where you need to be by the end of grade 12”. Time is always a great thing, and when we look at how our brain develops, having time to think of everything is crucial. 

In terms of why students stay for another year, guidance counselors said mostly for sports, to bring up their grades or they just wanted more time. It was also mentioned how some guidance counselors believe that there is no point in applying to post-secondary if students don’t know what they want to do, “There’s so much pressure on kids to have their whole lives figured out and it's not a good thing to just go somewhere for the sake of going,” said Mrs.Kenning. 

As our final question, we asked guidance counselors what they believe are the pros and cons of taking a fifth year. Some pros include getting extra time to take courses that students are interested in, and being able to try more electives. Mrs.Kenning noted “I like that it lets kids try everything, because sometimes students will think that they are interested in a program that they think they want, but they don’t know because they haven’t taken an elective course they could be really interested in”. The biggest con that we were given is losing the social aspect of high school, friends leave and start university and it can get lonely. Overall, the thoughts surrounding fifth years are positive, and it seems to be a good decision to make, especially if you do not know what to pursue. In reality, it is only one more year, and you have so much time to figure it out. Eventually, we will be reminiscing about the days spent in high school, so enjoy it while it lasts.