After nine grueling months of staying up until outrageous hours to finish homework, participating in various extracurriculars, and cramming for impossible-to-pass tests, students still have to endure an entire extra week of school because of an unfortunate slew of snow days.

Is this week necessary? Quite frankly, no. This past week has been spent in a haze of watching movies, taking last-minute tests and presentations, and taking trips outside. “I hate that we have to delay summer for an entire week just because we have to ‘make up snow days.’” says sophomore Kyle Johnson, bemoaning the fact that he still has to study for tests up until the day before the official last day of school.

Even though finals are a week away, classes are hardly being used for necessary review time. Instead, this week has been treated as a mad “last-minute-grade-change” race to the final grades deadline, with frequent “fluff” assignments and surprise tests. Time that could have been spent tanning outside is now being spent sleeping in front of a teacher-approved documentary.

The fact is that the Howard County Public School system could have deftly avoided this sad predicament. The definition of a “snow day” should be much more restrictive, so summer days aren’t sacrificed because of half an inch of snow powdering the ground. Planning days should be sacrificed instead!

Sophomore Brian Lee wouldn’t mind losing days off from the school year in favor of a longer summer. “Sure, random days off are great…but I’d definitely much rather have more time to lounge around in the sun during the summer than more time to lounge around in class.”

Unfortunately, we cannot change the fact that Centennial students are still suffering through a pointless week of school. We must carry on through our cupcake parties and boring movies, along with our unfairly administered tests and assigned projects. For now, we must dream about the golden rays of sunshine and hours of sleep we are missing and the glorious day we are released into the wild.