The End of the 2nd Quarter Means A Load of Work for Students

Many half-year courses are coming to an end, only to start up the next week after with a fresh batch of new students. This can lead to final exams, final projects, and getting kids to catch up with all the work they missed out on throughout the past couple months. For full-year courses, teachers like to use this time to slip in a last test or essay to get one extra grade for the marking period. Many teachers fail to realize (or just don’t care) that almost every teacher/course at Eastchester is doing this, leading to an immense amount of work for students to finish or prepare for in less than a week.

“I have four tests this week, as well as a film to finish up and an essay to write” stated junior Louis Gentile. “I’ve been out of school quite a bit this quarter, so the next few days are gonna be hell-ish for me”.

The senior class is very divided at the current moment, as many students are focused on getting their grades up for their last grading period of high school that colleges and universities look at. This doesn’t apply to all students, as some are more relaxed or laid-back due to already being committed to college. At the current moment, most seniors are stressed about colleges, WISE, prom, and other things based in the next few months.

“Recently, college acceptances and managing time between going to interviews and balancing schoolwork have been terrible” stated senior Becca Moriarty. “I have an essay, a 3 minute speech to memorize, two tests on thursday, a quiz and an entire journalism website presentation. It’s extremely stressful”.

Seniors haven’t been the only grade getting hit hard. Students of the junior class are going through arguably the hardest stretch of their high school career, with teachers such as Mr. Perdichizzi and Mr. Ellis giving math tests and Castle Learning assignments to end the week. Sophomores are getting hit with projects and essays, such as Miss Stipo’s monthly budget project that will count as a third of the entire class grade. Freshmen are getting their first look at high school work that will plague them for the next 3 ½ years.

One positive of the work assigned at Eastchester High School is the elimination of midterms. Eastchester got rid of midterm finals two years ago, giving students a break in that aspect. Surrounding schools such as Tuckahoe High School still have a week dedicated to these tests. The work set to be done at the end of the first half of the school year is a generous replacement for the exams students no longer have to take.

The idea of letting work pile up until the last week of the quarter is all too common for many Eastchester students, with all subjects having an impact on that final stretch into the second half. All students can do is cram all of it in during this final week or be doomed to have a lower grade. For students, it may be stressful or upsetting, but hey: summer is only 5 months away!