On June 13th, the South Windsor Schools district will have its last operating day of the 2023-2024 school year where students would usually spend time with one another and their teachers for one last time. However, on this day, the South Windsor High School students will instead be having their 8th period exam.
Typically, the High School has a final day where all periods meet and get to say goodbye before heading off into the summer vacation, but this year that will not be occurring, and has upset and angered some students.
Instead of being able to enjoy the final school day with friends and teachers, students are going to take their last exam in a quiet and tense classroom with classmates who are just as chagrined as they are. Obviously, the exam has to be taken, and students are not angered over that, but rather the fact that it is on their last day of the school year.
“For me, I’m a little sad, because last year the last day of school was incredibly fun. I was able to see my friends for the last time before the vacation, which is really important to me,” junior Mya Romaniw said.
Romaniw makes it clear that school is her main way of spending time and engaging with friends, and students like her utilize that final day to see friends that they won’t be able to see over the summer.
“I hate that we end on an exam day. It’s annoying and inconvenient because we have to go into the summer thinking about the exam and our grades,” junior Isabella Correnti told The Prowl.
Other students, like Correnti, are more upset about the stress factor that students experience when they take the exam.
Once you step out of the building on that day, that is when your summer break begins, but this year students have to feel the exhaustion from thinking about that final exam grade.
I’m a little sad, because last year the last day of school was incredibly fun.
— junior Mya Romaniw
Teachers are also unable to grade all of their students’ papers immediately, which means they have to spend extra time on their last day of school grading papers of students they may never see again. Not only does this final exam negatively affect the mindset of students going into summer, but it also impacts teachers.
“It’s horrible, because I need one more day to see all of my friends. I want one day of school at the end of the year, so that I can see everyone one more time. We don’t have that this year and it really upsets me,” junior Sarah Layaw explained.
The schedule of the final exams is saddening students, and it’s clear that many wish for it to be different. That final day, now stripped away, was for relaxation and sentiment, where friends would see each other for a final time and students could say goodbye to their favorite teachers.
This schedule gives students feelings they shouldn’t have to deal with when it comes to the end of the year and many despise the poor planning of their final week of this school year.
