In high school, students cannot simply be called out of class to go to an office, or home because there are no intercoms in classrooms. However, with the help of other students, there is an alternative.

The high school uses study hall aids, individuals who volunteer their time to take passes from offices to other students in class and also known as “runners,” as a solution. There is currently a shortage though, and the offices are looking for more aids so they do not have to share with one another.

“A lot of times, [the Counseling Office] reaches out to the Dean’s Office runners because they don’t have any [runners themselves],” Ashley Davison, sophomore Dean’s Office study hall aid, said. “They struggle with it now because sometimes they have a lot of [passes that need to be delivered.] They always ask for us to find friends to run the passes for them because they have runners for specific periods, but they need them for other periods too.”

Although the sign-up is simple, the offices are struggling to fill these open positions for the job, and, according to Karin Malachowski, counseling office administrative assistant, Studio C is the cause for the shortage in aids.

“The problem the last couple of years has been Studio C. Students don’t like to go to their study halls anymore, so they go to Studio C,” Malachowski said. “That’s why we have a shortage. [Students] don’t go to their study halls. They go to Studio C, so it’s [also] harder to find them. We can take as many as two [aids] per period per office, so that’s a lot of kids. That’s why the periods that we don’t have anyone, if the Dean’s has somebody, then they’ll help us out, and same if Athletics doesn’t have somebody. We help each other out in each department.”

Students interested in becoming aids should go into the Dean’s office and ask for more information, but they should also know that there are a few requirements before being granted permission to become an aid.

“We do check your grades, and eligibility is run on our office aids just like any other extra curricular or like in athletics,” Malachowski, said. “You do have to keep your grades up to be an aid.”

To help keep your grades up though, aids are allowed to do homework after they are done running passes.

“At the beginning of the period, they hand you a bunch of passes and you just bring the passes to each class,” Davison said. “You do get homework done [too, though,] because you only run for the first 15 minutes of class, and then the rest you can eat your food, you can do your homework, or you can go to the library if you want to. They don’t really care. They’re chill about it, [and] you can [be an aid] on any open period you have.”

Not only can you get your homework done while also being a study hall aid, but the job even shows up on your transcript so colleges can see your involvement.

“It does show up on their transcript as office aid for Counseling or Athletics or [the] Main Office, so it’s kind of a nice thing to show on your transcript. It shows you’re involved in the school or you’re volunteering,” Malachowski, said. “It’s just a pass or fail on your report card, but it does appear on your transcript.”

Although the job does show up on your transcript, Bella Meyer, sophomore Dean’s Office study hall aid, says she enjoys being a runner because she gets to see classrooms she would have almost never seen otherwise.

“My favorite place to deliver to is probably the band room because you get to see the room that you’re almost never in, and it’s kind of interesting trying to find the student,” Meyer said.

After running passes across the school for 15 minutes every day, Meyer says she “knows the school by heart,” and she recommends the job to freshman because it will help them learn where their classes are faster.

“I would recommend this job to incoming freshman. It kind of makes them have to learn where some of their classes are, and if there is a schedule change or they get new classes second semester, it’s easier to figure out where everything is,” Meyer said. “I would recommend this job to [anyone] else [too because] it’s a nice place to go instead of going to study hall. You get to walk around the halls, find classes, and you’re actually really helping out the people that you run passes for.”

Though the offices are fortunate enough to have the current students helping them out with distributing passes, the offices always need more and will welcome any student who want to help out. According to Malachowski, the training is also simple.

“Oh it’s real simple. Basically, just their first day here, we show them where the passes are that they need to take with them when they run,” Malachowski, said. “We show them where they’re supposed to sign in every day, and we have them check whatever box for that period they’re being an aid for to see if there are any passes in there. We just instruct them to knock on the door, give [the passes] to the teacher, and if the student is absent that they bring them back to us.”

With the simple training, opportunities to eat and do homework during the same period, and the fact that the job shows up on your transcript, the offices hope students will consider become an aid in the future.