After the winter finals, after all the stress and late night studying, students were finally free from school for three weeks, including the extra snow days.
During that break, some reflected on how they prepared for school that semester, and some promised themselves they would do better. They would study more, read ahead in textbooks and prepare more for tests.
However, I do not see much change among the student population. I still see students spend the last few minutes before the bell rings frantically finishing homework while others use lunchtime to cram last-minute for a test next period. I see many students just barely trying on their homework because they were unmotivated.
Many of us were hit hard by the “January Blues” because of the snow days at the beginning of 2025. They delayed us from getting into the routine of school, setting us behind. This has impacted the performance and mental health of the school population, so many students are now suffering from a second-semester slump.
The term second-semester slump refers to the lack of motivation many students experience in the beginning of the spring semester. I, and many others at BV, are currently suffering from this. Students are losing motivation and are stressed about extracurriculars, burnt out from the pressure of school and haunted by the ever-looming finals and AP tests.
Second-semester classes are often more stressful because they delve deeper into material, requiring a heavier workload and more challenging exams. This can be overwhelming, causing students to lose motivation to do assignments for that class. This is a problem because the second semester can become a race against time for finals, and students need to stay on pace to be prepared. This results in a slump, where the students are unmotivated and barely staying on pace with the curriculum.
Just like the Greek myth of Sisyphus, forever pushing a boulder up a hill only for it to roll back down every time it reaches the top, every time we finish a big test or project and get a break, we get 10 more assignments or tests. This cycle makes students burnout, which contributes to the slump and makes it even harder to get work done.
But what can we do to get out of the second-semester slump? Students need to be positively motivated, but while some short-term stress can be good to inspire and enhance performance, too much long-term stress negatively impacts a person’s mental and physical health.
I recommend finding new ways of motivation, like changing study habits or how homework is completed. Find a new place to study, maybe in another room, outside or in a third space. Listen to music or white noise — or don’t listen to anything at all to minimize distractions.
Students should also enjoy the good parts of the second semester. They should enjoy learning new things from classes and participating in extracurriculars. They should look forward to important events like Prom or graduation, but they should still care about school, trying to finish out the year strong and not breezing through the school year to get to the end sooner.
Students also need to stop procrastinating. It is too easy to put things off for later and get distracted, but that can be detrimental to your school year. Students need to keep up with the flow of assignments, because just like Sisyphus, the boulder will always roll back down, and you’ll always have more schoolwork to do.
