By Babiha Kaur, Digital Editor
Due to heavy snowfall, the week of January 15 through 19 saw unexpected snow days, impacting River Hill’s scheduled midterm exams. Some students welcomed the opportunity to relax and recharge, while others were forced to adjust their study plans more than they would have liked.
The week before, snow was predicted. Some students expected the snow days, while others were surprised by the cancellations. Junior Taylor Wilson comments, “I actually was expecting most of the snow days because they said it was going to snow, and I predicted it, and it did snow.” The snow days, however, were more than sophomore Charlie Bishop had anticipated. She shares, “[It] was a very surprising change of events with all the snow coming down and how it just started changing the week.”
The first cancellation occurred on Tuesday, January 16. First period finals were originally scheduled to take place on this day, but got pushed to Tuesday, January 23. Other cancellations happened on Wednesday, January 17 and Friday, January 19. As a result of these snow days, midterm schedules for each class were altered. These snow days elicited a variety of opinions from River Hill students.
Some students benefited from the additional time the snow days brought. For Taylor, the snow days were “helpful.” She describes, “the snow days happened [and] I got more time to prepare for [the tests], and I did better.” Additionally, junior Barbara Lembas shares, “I had a chance to catch up on my late assignments, prepare actual notes, watch videos, [and] go over everything that teachers did. It was very beneficial.”
Others, however, faced challenges in altering their study routines. Freshman Alexis Pages found the cancellations disadvantageous, describing, “[they] kind of sucked because I was really ready to take [my midterms] and get them over with, and having them looming over [my] head was just not nice. I just kept worrying about them and I didn’t have any more study materials to go through, so I felt like there was nothing more I could do to prepare with the time I had.” For many, the snow days were stressful because of the constant worry they brought. Charlie expresses, “I felt that it was really annoying because I was very ready to study and get all the midterms over with, but the snow pushed everything back and it made it so much harder to actually get studying done.” Senior Jazzy Dong elaborates, “The more I waited, the worse I felt about the midterms.”
Despite having upcoming midterms to prepare for over the snow days, students tried to make the most of their unexpected time off. Barbara shares, “I didn’t study every single day. For the entirety of one day I just went out and played in the snow; it was super fun. Thanks to the snow days I finally got a chance to take a break, relax, and not worry about school for a couple of hours.” Alexis also believes that she “was able to enjoy” the snow days even though she had to study for midterms.
In general, students are very opposed to the idea of midterms. Barbara describes, “I think it’s a good way to test your knowledge, but you also get lots of stress from them. You have to do your assignments before the midterm break, and then you have your midterms, and after midterms you just jump right back in. So you’re exhausted. It also affects your final grade, so that kind of sucks.” Alexis shares, “I don’t like them. They’re stressful and I feel like everybody makes them sound way more important than they should be.”
Overall, school cancellations due to inclement weather were beneficial to some and disadvantageous to others. Midterms are stressful for many, and a variety of students are relieved now that their exams are over.