Once Thanksgiving Break is over, there are roughly three weeks until school ends winter break. Students at Adams become very stressed due to the amount of work that needs to get done. Also, teachers assign projects and plan tests in a short amount of time. The stress takes a toll on the well-being of students.

Right now, many seniors are working on their recently assigned senior projects. Projects are planned to be presented before break, putting students under a great deal of stress to get the assignment done and ready to present. Along with the presentation, the students have small deadlines along the way that have to be met that contribute to the final grade.

“There is a lot of work that needs to get done, so it’s pretty stressful right now,” said senior Kaela Harney.

Teachers are trying to get as much material and instruction out before break, because after it, will be harder for students to be motivated. 

“It is a hard adjustment from middle school because there is more stress and much more that needs to get done in a short period of time,” said freshman Angie Hayek.

The stress on students starts to take a toll on the health and sanity of students. Due to the increased amount of stress, students are sleeping less and are spending more time working on school work.

“There is so much stress especially in math,” said freshman Nathan Rill.

A side effect of the lack of sleep is that there are more students getting sick. It is right around flu season and paired with the lack of sleep many students tend to fall sick. This leads to students being more tired the next day and not fully attentive in class the next day. Tests become more prominent on Mondays and Fridays, after the teacher has gone over all the material that will be on the tests making students feel unprepared for the test. This is something that continues to happen to students before breaks because they have so much to do. This makes the quality of work that is produced by the students much lower than if it was a less stressful time of year and leads to the students just trying to get the work done and not how well it is done.

Overall, this is the last stretch before break, and although stress can be a motivator to getting things done, it mostly comes at a cost for students. Having a holiday break without the feeling of being overwhelmed would be a welcomed addition to the school year for many students. The “pile on” effect seems to only work towards making the holidays not so festive.