By Keya Nijhawan
The once-a-lion cub Anna Goodsell is now entering the second semester of Sophmore year.
I had talked to Anna at the beginning of the year for our Back on the Bank series, and she had a good mindset about her hard classes. Her plan of attack was to utilize her free period in every way possible; however, it is much easier to say that than to do it. Looking back on it now, Anna said, “I cannot tell if I used my free well, but it was much needed.” This semester proved to be one of the hardest ever for Anna as her stress levels were higher than she was used to handling.
Going into exams seemed to have been the hardest part of the semester for Anna. “I was a big ball of stress,” she said. She explained that she could not find anything to help her destress, which made things worse for her. “Everything just seemed like it was not working,” she said.
Something that came as I surprise to me was that not even thinking about the break helped Anna relax. “I am even stressed just thinking about the break,” she said. This ended up leading us to reflect on how even holiday break is not completely stress-free. We came to the conclusion that this is because many students just end up stressing about their exam grades, which can make or break the semester grade. Students also wonder what their teachers are going to write in their comments and how their parents will react to their grades and comments.
My interview with Anna took place in two different time frames, the first one being the week before exams. At this time, I could tell Anna was stressed beyond stress. Exams were creeping in on her very quickly, and she could feel the pressure. She was ready to get the over with, but at the same time, she knew it was not going to be quick and easy. The shift in tone and body language before exams compared to after was huge.
When I talked to Anna right after exams, I could hear the relief in her voice. It was as if a weight had been lifted off her back. However, not all the weight, as now she, amongst others, had to face the long wait of finding out their final grades.
She wondered which teachers were going to grade and put in her exam grades immediately and which were just going to let her check and have her not find out until the few days before school started again. And, of course, who will be the teacher that hides the grade book, so you never know until you are forced back on the bank.
Overall, to Anna and most likely many others, this semester has been a long and stressful one, and it seems as if the stress will never end. But as Anna said, “See you next year so we can do it all over again!”
