May Term Fun Facts

Four Lifetime Recreation Classes Offered

Nolan, Ryan, Trevor, and Reece count their meld before playing for tricks.

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Nolan, Ryan, Trevor, and Reece count their meld before playing for tricks.

May term has been a part of spring at Central Lyon for three decades. Many new classes are offered during the last four weeks of the school year, including lifetime recreation classes proposed by teachers in their passion areas. Recreation classes include strength & conditioning, strategic gaming, outdoor recreation, and ballroom dance.

Did you know?

• Central Lyon held its first May term during the spring of 1997.
• There are 57 classes offered during May term.
• State or federally mandated curriculum are taught during May term, including seventh and eighth grade exploratory classes in the high school.
• The May term play hasn’t always been built into the day during May term.
• Service Learning is an opportunity to give back to the school and community.  Students must take a Service Learning class at some point before graduation.  
• Mentoring, CL Broadcasting, or Mock Trial can take the place of Service Learning.
• All freshmen are required to take Careers and Navigator during May term.
• State and Local Government is a graduation requirement.
• During May term 2011, a group of volunteer teachers and students were able to turn 52 donated t-shirts into a special quilt donated to a student in cancer treatment.
• Students are limited to only one recreation course.
• Click here for full list and descriptions of May term classes.

Students enjoy the range of classes from which they can choose. Louise Meyer appreciates May term because students get different class options, yet she wishes there were more "fun" class offerings. She stated that "schedules are often full of required classes which only leave one or two class periods for fun ones." Eli Jansma likes "taking a break at the end of the year from the grind of all the tough classes." Eli has fond memories of making and eating different foods in classes baking & pastries and food on the run. He also liked making barbeque sauce in Mr. Rockhill’s food science class. Anna Warntjes appreciates that May term allows her more time in her passion areas of theater and music, yet she wishes there were even more music option classes.  She fondly remembers the May term play, yet dislikes the stress of continuing required classes during May term. Senior Cael Schulte likes how he can learn about things he wouldn’t normally learn about during the rest of the school year. 

Fifteen core classes continue during May term, including band, chorus, general science, Spanish, American history, all math classes, and some English classes. In addition, several elective classes dive deep into a single academic topic, such as Civil War, ATC prep, oceanography, farm management, broadcasting, or workplace readiness. May term also allows time to fulfill a service learning graduation requirement and offers a menu of optional recreation classes.

Lifetime recreation classes are some of the most popular and are often filled by upper-classmen. Just one example is strategic gaming which has grown from one to two sections since it was first offered in 2016. In this class students learn and participate in pinochle, a card game brought to America by German immigrants, that requires strategy, teamwork, social skills, and card counting. To add a cross-generational social element for the students, we have invited in community guest players of all ages (pre-Covid); Principal Engleman continues to occasionally stop by as a guest player. Strategic gaming teachers Mr. Gerleman and Mrs. Snyders enjoy sharing their love of pinochle, as well as other staff who love sharing knowledge that spans outside their core subject areas. May term continues to be a great end to each school year.