End of the First Quarter

By: Madeline Matheny

With the end of the first quarter quickly approaching, students are frantically trying to successfully complete their assignments, and achieve good grades on their report cards. October 14th marks the end of the first quarter for the 2022-2023 school year.

For seniors, this is the conclusion of the first grading period of their last year of high school, bringing up an array of emotions.

Senior, Morgan Baker, says, “I am feeling stressed, but also excited about the end of the quarter because it means we are 1/4th of the way done with our senior year.”

Stress is often a feeling associated with quarter endings, especially when taking a heavy course load. Morgan shares, “I feel like my course load difficulty has been okay. It is at a similar level to my junior year because I am taking fewer classes, but they're more difficult, so it balances out.”

Another senior, Abigail Hessenauer, also has mixed feelings about the conclusion of the first grading period. She states, “It makes me kind of sad because it means we are even closer to graduating, but at the same time I am also ready to be finished with high school.”

On the other hand, for freshmen, October 14th marks the end of their first quarter in high school. Freshman, Sela Hennon says, “I’ve been really stressed out, so I’m really looking forward to it being done. I’m just taking it one step at a time, especially being a freshman.”

Sela compared middle school to high school saying, “I would say you kinda get thrown into the fire, and I feel like there wasn’t necessarily a buildup to sometimes the level that is required in high school.”

The stress of the approaching deadline is not only stressful for students but also stressful for teachers, as they are swarmed with assignments to grade. English teacher, Allison Newman, says, “I would say I am busier towards the end of the grading periods. Especially because I am an English teacher, and a lot of times we are writing essays towards the end of the quarters, so I always have like 90 essays to grade.”

Mrs. Newman also observes the change in her students, saying, “I don’t think it affects me or my teaching style, but I can definitely see a change in the students where they start to realize it's crunch time.”

However, there are always students that seem exempt from the stress surrounding the ending quarter. Sophomore Parker Garcia says, “I’m feeling it was really easy. It was lackluster. It was pretty fun, and there wasn’t much to do. I would say 10/10.”

Overall, the quarter ending creates mixed emotions along with varying stress levels in both students and teachers. Hopefully, the first grading period was a successful one, but even if it wasn't, students still have the next 9 weeks to work towards their desired grades.

photo credit: Eric Rothermel