The library is quiet this morning. The thoughts of hardworking students silence all small talk and chit chat. Books open, iPads on, this is the week of the grind: finals week. It brings about a strange dichotomy between the end of semester and the beginning of testing. Christmas decorations deck the halls and joyous music soothes the ears when the bell rings. Albeit, the same bell that dictates the final stroke of the pencil, the final point in the grade book. Finals week attempts to summarize months’ of work into one summative test. Multiply this by eight classes and we are left scrambling to remember what we even ate for breakfast that morning. Generally, teachers give either a final project or test. Tests are alternated between Thursday and Friday depending on what class period the test lands on (Even classes take finals one day, odds the other). Projects can sometimes be a semester's worth of work. Jennifer Renz, a senior student, describes her schedule on Thursday, “Today I have Spanish and Photography. I think Yearbook as well and an Anatomy test. Tomorrow? I have another Anatomy test and Psychology final.” This is typical for a student regardless of their grade. Yet there remains a bit of elation when the senior class realizes that this is our second to last finals week. When asked if she was excited about this, Jennifer responds, “Frick yeah I am.” With every step forward, the class of 2024 celebrates our commencement. “We are almost there, even if that means we have to work though another finals week. We are almost there.” Congruent with the holiday season, finals week brings about the best and worst in all of us.
Merry Christmas and happy finals week,
SOTO Student Insiders
P.S. Congratulations class of 2024, we are halfway there!