Is Spring Fever Spreading through the Halls of Centennial?
It’s that time of year when the only thing on many students’ minds is a break from school stress. February to April is debatably the longest three months of the school year as the work ramps up, and there are typically no more snow days or breaks. For many students at Centennial, the upcoming spring break is the only thing getting them through the long and exhausting weeks. And as the break approaches, the anticipation grows.
Data collected from 41 students in all grades at Centennial shows that a majority of students are excited for spring break. On a scale from 1 to 5, with 1 being the least excited and 5 being the most, 73.2% selected most excited, 2.4% selected not excited, and 24.3% selected somewhere in the middle.
An anonymous student said that school recently has been “so insanely stressful. I study so hard but I still do badly on my tests because I get no sleep and my classes are hard.” Others have mentioned, “there always seems to be an endless amount of work that I can never get ahead of, no matter how hard I try. I still manage to keep up and submit things on time, but the feeling of stress never really ceases,” and “the workload is getting progressively more difficult to manage as subjects progress, and my motivation drains.”
Lately, students’ mental health has been declining now that they are back in person. When schools were online, teachers made it clear that mental health was a top priority, but the fast transition back to school seemed to be a shock to the system for many. This lack of focus on mental health is seeming to make the spring months even more stressful, because it is the first spring that students are in school in two years, and students aren’t used to this level of work.
Senior Teddy Jorgenson gave insight on his personal experience this spring. “Lately, I feel like the workload hasn’t budged a bit. I thought that it would ease up on seniors after the end of the second quarter and the sending of midyear reports to colleges, but it’s still going strong and we’re almost at the end of the third quarter.” Sophomore Annelia Newberry agreed, stating that, “The workload that I have experienced in high school is very different from middle school or online learning. Recently, as it has neared the end of the third quarter, a lot of classes have large workloads.” Newberry also mentioned that “[the] workloads have definitely been overwhelming at times as it seems that teachers are using this time, with little to no days off, to push material towards students. I do feel that I have procrastinated more. I start to feel overwhelmed or annoyed by my work, whether it is due to not comprehending it or the amount, along with the stress that comes with the work.”
For some, however, school hasn’t been all that bad. Freshman Autumn Miller said, “personally, I don’t usually get a lot of homework, I usually just get math homework and a few English and history assignments. I’m in the musical this spring so that’s been the main time consumer but luckily I don’t have a lot of homework so I don’t feel so overwhelmed.”
If all students had this workload and attitude, maybe school would be much more enjoyable, and having a nice break from school could help to reset everyone’s minds and decrease stress levels so that students will hopefully be ready to come back and learn after spring break is over.
The school stress isn’t the only thing getting students pumped up for the break. It’s also a time to hang out with friends and family, and travel to different places. Especially since not many people have traveled recently due to COVID.
“I’m really excited to be away from school for a bit and clear my head without having to stress out a lot. I know I’ll still have some work to do with APs coming up soon after, but it’ll be nice to work at my own pace without the stress of deadlines and the need to be in school all day,” a Centennial student expressed.
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