First Semester Comes to An End

Exams at Arrowhead High School start on Tuesday the 19th and go through Thursday the 21st.

The week before exams, students are rushing to get late and missing work turned in. Some might be struggling to get their grade higher by doing extra credit or other assignments.

Senior Nicole Hospel says , “I don’t want to take finals, but I’m happy to start my new classes.”

Arrowhead senior Lauren Overstreet says she has “pretty good, pretty good grades and [I’m] ready to be done with school.”

“I’m glad it’s over because the semester sucked,” said Arrowhead senior Will DeWeerdt, who felt he had too many classes to keep up with.

New classes will begin on Monday the 25th.

“I have pretty easy classes.” “I know it’s easy because I chose courses I know I’ll be good at and you ask people who have taken it in the past and how well they’ve done on it,” says Hospel.

Overstreet also says she anticipates her next semester to be “easy, I like have one advanced class.”

And for DeWeerdt, he says he has “easy” classes as well.

Some teachers for the final exams with have their students present a project to turn in or to present to the class, instead of taking an exam. But for other teachers, they will have their students take a test about everything they learned in the semester.

“I have an exam in all my classes except in American Problems where I have to do a project,” says Hospel.

For Overstreet, she has to do ”projects.”

But for DeWeerdt, he has “exams.”

Which would these three seniors prefer, taking an exam or doing a project? Hospel says, “Well project, they’re really easy to get an A on them, but sometimes I don’t like the projects. I guess it depends on the class.”

Overstreet says she prefers, “Projects because I like being more creative.”

And for DeWeerdt says he prefers, “Project, because tests have too much pressure.”

Stress is a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances, according to Google.

Hospel says she is  stressed out for finals.

“[I’m] kind of [stressed about finals]. I’m like half stressed and half not stressed. I just want to be done,” says Overstreet.

DeWeerdt says he’s “a little” stressed as well.

Some teachers at Arrowhead help students study the last week before finals.

What would they want their teachers to change for the last week before finals?

Hospel says she wishes teachers would“make [the last week of the semester]  a review week so we don’t have to learn everything, lay back and study.”

Overstreet says, “I would have [teachers] change like how much they prepare us for the exam.”

“[For final exams, I should] actually review instead of cramming,” says DeWeerdt.

The end of first semester brings graduation for some students. Arrowhead students who are leaving at the end of the semester, will be officially done January 18th, 2016.

“Well, like, it is pretty strange to know that I only have days left,” says Taylor Radtke, “especially because most of my friends will be staying on for second semester.”

“I totally thought that I would have given up on trying at school by now,” says Radtke. “In the beginning of the year, I had ridiculous senioritis. But I’ve started to try a lot harder recently and really [try] to put some effort into my exams and I think that’s actually because…it’s my last semester at Arrowhead.”

Radtke says in her free time post graduation, she plans on working at Starbucks and saving up for college. But she also says she plans to return at graduation to walk with the rest of her classmates June 2016.