By Randee Schmitt
As the school year comes to a close, the last day of school feels as though it’s approaching slower than molasses on a hot summer day. With standardized testing and end of year exams to prepare for, students suddenly feel themselves begin to care less about school and more about their summer plans.
“After spring break, I was pretty much done with the year,” sophomore Madison Slaughter said.
Some students even admit to feeling themselves begin to stop caring as early as winter break, due to the anticipation of the upcoming spring break and finally the end of the year.
Despite what students say however, social studies teacher Heather Willson believes that the time frame students begin to lose interest varies depending on the type of student.
“The student who has barely cared the whole year, they don’t have good attendance, they don’t have good grades, they have a lack of interest in general, they usually get into trouble, those kids usually check out right after spring break,” Willson said. “As soon as it starts getting warmer, usually around May, the rest of the students usually start dropping off and then right about the time you take that STAAR or TAKS or that AP test, right about the time they take that test even your good students usually check out like, they’re done, they’re like “Three weeks? I don’t care, not doing it.”
Some students recognize the importance of performing well all year and have different methods of motivating themselves to continue to put an effort into their school work, even as the end of the year is nearing.
“I try to keep in mind the importance of having good grades,” sophomore Eric Fricke said. “That can mean any number of things, from thinking in the short term and exempting finals, to the long term that involves college applications and my career beyond that.”
Teachers, too, make efforts to keep students’ engaged and motivated up until the end.
“Truthfully I try to find things that are exceptionally relevant to them, that speaks to them, that interests them, the most current of items, the most controversial of items, the things utilizing technology,” Willson said. “In general I try to make it as fun as possible and usually that fun factor that high interest is the only thing that gets them and they don’t even realize that they’re doing academic stuff.”
Everyone looks forward to the end of the year, to the closing of one chapter and the start of a new one. Although it can often be difficult to push through the last couple weeks of school, students and teachers work together to stay motivated and successful, knowing the hard work will definitely pay off.
“Right now, the biggest thing I’m looking forward to is that moment when I step out of class the last day of finals and get to sigh that huge sigh of relief and freedom,” Fricke said.