For one day out of the school year, parents get to walk in their children’s shoes.

Bring Your Parent to School Day allows parents to come for the entire day, half day or just a period. Parents roam the halls with their students, eat lunch with their students, and endure 90 minute classes. This year, Bring Your Parent to School Day took place Monday, Oct. 30.

“It’s a good day for the students because the parents don’t know what the day is really like. It gives them a real definition of what the day is like,” assistant principal Meldine Lee said. “It involves them more and they support the school more.”

On this day, some teachers decide to create lessons that incorporate their visitors.

“I think it is important for the parents to see what their kids do all day. I feel the parents wanted to show students that it’s easier to do the school work rather than the real world work,” English teacher Lea Dixon said. ““I love everything about this day.”

For parents, one of the biggest challenges of the day is making it through an entire class period. Classes range from 60 to 90 minutes, and many parents are not used to sitting still and quiet that long.

“Ninety minutes was a lot longer than we used to have class, so that took some time to get used to,” parent Debby Saunders said. “The teachers did a great job keeping everyone engaged and the time went by fast.”

Since parents have been out of school and in the working world, school has changed. Technology plays a much larger role, and students have more distractions, with the biggest one being cell phones. Like students, parents are expected to stay off their phones while in class.

“Being without my phone all day was rough,” Saunders said. “I am constantly on it, so to make it through the day without it was hard.”

This special day was introduced to the school by foreign language teacher Regina Cecil in 2013. She came up with this idea to let parents experience the school day with their child.

“I think that it’s important for parents to experience a little of what high school is like for their child each day; it has changed so much. The classes are more challenging and the pressures are different.” Cecil said.

From signing up parents to ordering extra food in the cafeteria for lunches, Cecil continues to coordinate the day for the school year to year.

“I hope we continue to have this day because it helps parents, guardians and the community to see and understand what high school is like for their child,” Cecil said. “It is a wonderful opportunity to connect with the community.”