Unprecedented times have clashed with the referendum that passed in April of 2019. The referendum money for the school was able to pay for new amenities, departments, and adding more area to the school. The construction pushed the first day of the 2021-2022 school year back, causing the end of first semester and, therefore, the school year as a whole to be later than usual. Now, students and staff of Hinsdale Central face a new challenge: having semester finals in the middle of January. 

Quarantining for the entirety of the 2020-2021 school year has divided the school into before-COVID and after-COVID. Juniors and seniors have had at least one semester of “normal” schooling while sophomores and freshmen have never experienced high school without the interference of masks.  

As a result, students from differing grades had different views on finals so late in the year. Senior, Paton Mehroff, said many juniors and seniors are increasingly worried about AP classes and how later finals would mean more AP content crammed into less time. Other students fear that the break between learning and finals will cause them to forget the learning material, so one week of review will not be enough time for them. 

Many students throughout all grades think they will forget about studying for finals during Winter Break, which will cause their grades to plummet. They are counting on the new finals policy, which makes finals optional and doesn’t pull your grade down, to keep their grades at a place they enjoy. 

Many freshmen and sophomores, however, have differing opinions. Some students said they believe the break in between learning and finals would give students more time to study and fix their grades. They believe that this time allows kids to catch up on past work and really understand the material in time for finals. 

Students acknowledge that the school is trying to ease the burden of finals by having a week of Thanksgiving break, but insist that finals will bring more harm than good. Students also understand that teachers are under stress as well, but fear the teachers themselves don’t understand that stress students are under. 

Students and teachers must prepare themselves for the whirlwind of hectic activity following winter break and need to remember that, next year, everyone will face the same issue again.