By Nikhil Krishnamoorthi, Quill Writer
With midterms ending, River Hill High School had officially entered what students call an “academic crisis.” Hallways were silent, students begged for mercy and every conversation started by saying “Why?”
According to the midterm schedule, clearly written by someone who has never met a teenager, students took just one exam on January 21st, and three exams per day on January 22nd and 23rd. One junior in particular, Neil Jain, whispered in a student’s ear saying, “This has to be illegal.”
For some diabolical reason on Wednesday, January 21st, River Hill kicked off midterms with period 3 exams. Weird but not crazy; however, we got into the real action on January 22 and 23 with a complex, yet questionable, exam schedule: 3 exams in one day, because the schools believed in balance and fairness. Administrators insisted this is “manageable,” a word students have now learned means “good luck.” By the end of two continuous exams, the schedule became less of a plan and more of a social experiment. The poor and kind students of River Hill High School were expected to switch from analyzing Supreme Court Cases, to solving quadratic equations, to writing a timed essay, all before brunch. Our school nutritionist warned that this may be why students are now surviving exclusively on granola bars, a tall cup of black coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts and the vague memory of dinner.
By the end of brunch on Thursday, it felt as though exams for the day were coming to an end until they came to realize there’s a whole 60 minutes of another exam ahead of them. With back to back midterms and a mere five minute emotional recovery period between, students showed clear symptoms of burnout, including and not limited to: bringing the wrong notebook to class, asking “Is this for a grade?” even when it obviously is and referring to time “before midterms” and “after midterms.”
Teachers, meanwhile, had to reassure students by saying things like, “Don’t worry, it’s not meant to trick you,” seconds before handing out a test that looks like it was written during a desperate hour of pain and suffering. By the end of Friday, students were no longer studying, they were surviving. Study group chats turned into crisis centers, and libraries resembling emergency shelters. One student was seen studying flashcards while walking, eating and emotionally disengaged at the same time, an extraordinary feat that doctors say should not be physically possible.
Administrators maintained that the schedule “builds resilience.” Students agreed it is mainly the resilience to never complain about regular homework again.
As midterms ended and the week of torment and pain finished, River Hill High School has united under one shared belief: the schedule was insane, the week changed people forever, and when student made it through, it deserved serious college credit, emotional support and at least one day off to remember who the people the school once knew.
Until then, midterms for River Hill High School ended in an era: tired, caffeinated and armed with color coded notes, into the chaos that tormented them.