While semester exams are cancelled this week and most students are relieved, others still struggle with their workload and stress of the upcoming holidays.

Junior Shelby Segall admits it’s tough to stay focused between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  She said, “It’s been hard balancing doing homework and making sure my gifts for others are intact and wrapped. I had to order a few gifts so taking time away from work to look for gifts was hard.”

Senior Alexis Ochi says she prefers to spend more time preparing for the holidays than sitting in front of her Chromebook. She said, “It’s definitely been a lot of work, and it’s hard because I would like to do holiday stuff with my family, but I have to do my schoolwork.”

Students like freshman Victoria Kunc believe that teachers have increased their expectations before the end of the semester, which has made her life more difficult.  Kunc said, “Personally, I feel like we have gotten larger assignments that take up a lot of time, leaving very little time to take a break.”

Self-care is also important, according to Ochi, as she believes putting time aside for oneself is especially important.  She said, “I’ve definitely had a lot of schoolwork this past month, and it’s been hard to balance self-care with it. But, I think I do manage to take at least a little time for myself and talk to my friends.”

For Segall, she felt like the cancellations of midterms may have added on more stress. “I know that I won’t have to spend all my free time studying for exams; but at the same time, I now have to get my grades up for the end of the semester,” she said.  

Kunc, however, admits she appreciates the cancelled exams.  She said, “With midterms being cancelled, I am relieved that I don’t have to take a test, and can use that time to focus on finishing the semester.”

In addition to work being done for school, many students have part-time jobs, which Segall thinks makes this time of year a little more stressful.  “Since I am still working it has been tough trying to find a good balance of school work and work. I don’t really have a ton of time to do the homework my teachers assign.”

When Segall isn’t working her job or doing school work, she admits she’s shopping for the holidays.  She said, “I just finished buying Christmas gifts for my family. It was pretty fun but it was also stressful trying to figure out what to get people.”

Ochi is also holiday shopping as an escape from her schoolwork.  She said, “I don’t normally buy gifts for people, but when I do it excites me because the holiday season is such a fun time!”

Regardless of Christmas or anything else, Kunc believes this is a tough time for a lot of students.  She said, “Holiday or not, I think it’s hard in general to really focus before break.”