Ode to Winter Finals

There comes a point in every high school student’s life where cramming in one last study of your Quizlet flashcards before you go to bed is the only thing on your mind and getting the recommended eight hours of sleep is an afterthought. There is a point in time where the impossible happens – students begin to despise the smell of Starbucks coffee and the taste of Panera chocolate chip cookies, because of the absurd amount of time spent at these popular study locations. It is a point in time where, for some, crying is more normal than smiling.

This time is finals week.

Finals Week (noun): The week long period before winter break where you have the chance to either make or break your grade. Can be characterized as insanely stressful, and emotionally and physically straining.

For some, finals are a breeze. The only thing these lucky few have on their minds is the countdown until winter break. These people race through an entire exam without questioning a single number on their scantron. Girls choose to wear booties instead of tennis shoes – just to make as much noise as possible so everyone else in the class notices how they are the first in the class to turn in their test. A few “Oh wow that was the easiest final ever,” and “You didn’t understand that question?” aren’t uncommon from these rare students.

But for the majority, walking into school for your first hour final is like being escorted by a bailiff to a criminal trial – depressing and spine-chilling.

Our recent search history is only full of rogerhub.com. Our uniform becomes sweatpants, fuzzy socks and hoodies. We wait in line at Columbia Brew when it is at the peak of its busy season, just thinking about the torture of writing our final essay analyzing the symbolic meaning of a pair of glasses in The Lord of the Flies.

But for all of the Chemistry finals, CAT finals and EHAP finals, we all have those few finals that are simply “blessings:” Sewing finals, Foods finals, Intro to Art finals, the list goes on. Finals that don’t require huge study guides or hours spent memorizing a whole book. The Lancer Dancers have their final off campus at First Watch, while all of us are trapped at school. If we all could be tested on our ability to eat a chocolate chip pancake, then we all for sure would be passing our finals.

Even though our finals are more likely to make our grades than break them, the pleasure of driving home after the seventh hour final is incomparable to any feeling felt by any student over the past week. Then, the only worry on our minds is how we are going to be spending our long, much needed holiday.