by Lexi Paidas ‘17

When normally the halls would be filled with the sounds of students running around asking teachers questions and for extra last-second help, only an eerie silence remained. The first semester without exams has produced much different student attitudes than expected. Instead of being happy and relaxed without the weight of exams on their shoulders, students are sad that their beloved exams are gone and continue to battle their feelings of depression.

Now, well-rested students are becoming reminiscent of their standardized test-taking times and their days hyped up on coffee and Redbull. “My parents are getting mad at me because of all of the caffeinated drinks I bought,” said junior Melanie Carmichael. “They told me that they are taking up too much room in our pantry, but I didn’t need to drink them anymore because there weren’t exams, so I don’t know what to do with them.”

Students also complained that they were missing the half days and days off they used to get during exam week. “Last year I took five APs and two electives, so that I didn’t have any semester exams. I had the entire week off and went on vacation with my family instead,” recounted senior Walter Rumba. We had so much fun that we decided to do it again this year and booked our hotel and flight right away. After they announced that we were not going to have exams, we had to cancel our trip. What is the point of taking APs if they don’t get you out of exams?”

The county is overwhelmed by parents calling with concerns about their children who have reportedly been bursting into tears at seemingly random intervals throughout the day. Careful county investigation has revealed that No. 2 pencils and Scantrons seem to be causing these outbursts. School counselors will continue to be available for counseling from the beginning of the school day until five o’clock, in order to offer extra emotional assistance to students. “I have never seen this many students in my office that weren’t trying to switch their classes. I’m glad to have the ability to use my counseling skills more,” said counselor Anne Chapney.

“We urge everyone to calm down and remember that they still have two weeks of AP testing to look forward to,” said Mark Peterson, the director of County-Wide Standardized Testing. The county will be holding an open forum on February 10 in the Ertzman to discuss how to handle what they predict will be the second wave of problems coming at the end of the year, accompanying what used to be the week of final exams.