By: Mila Hart

High school can be very stressful for students. With all of the assignments, projects, and presentations, all quarters can be a generally overwhelming time for students. But some factors make some quarters more difficult than others.

Some juniors at Highland Park Senior High say that the third quarter has been the most stressful, and hardest to get through, for them. They say this for many different reasons including, studying and taking the ACTs; many are affected by seasonal depression as well.

A sophomore at Highland Park Senior High said that the first quarter was the easiest. They said this because they believe that they start off the year with the most motivation and it’s easier to stay on top of things.

Many students that I talked with agreed that the weather and seasons have an impact on how well they do in school. When it’s warmer and brighter they tend to be much more motivated to do school work and the school work doesn’t seem so hard anymore. Based on this take, that would make the second and third quarter the most difficult overall.

Some students also agreed that the third quarter is hard to get through because it’s the only quarter that doesn’t start right after a break and doesn’t have a break in the middle of it. When a quarter begins after a break (first and fourth quarter) students have a bit more motivation after having a chance to fully relax without any school work. And the same goes for second quarter, that has winter break in the middle of it.

An English teacher at Highland Park Senior High says that she notices that the fourth quarter tends to be one of the hardest for students to get through, especially for juniors and seniors. She says this because at this point in the year juniors have taken the ACTs and are burnt out. And after four years of high school, seniors are especially burnt out and just want to focus on all of their lasts of high school instead of doing school work.