There were three weeks between Thanksgiving break and winter break, which is also followed by the first semester at Norwalk High School coming to an end.

Students like Ashley Smith, a junior, stress the importance of getting work and assignments done before winter break so that students and teachers can get over the initial stress of late assignments.

“There’s more pressure to just do [missing assignments] right now because there’s not really a chance to redo,” Ashley said. “It’s way too close to the end of the semester. You have to really lock in and study, especially with Christmas break so close.” 

Students reported feeling tired during the three weeks between breaks, and they are exhibiting signs of burnout and exhaustion.

“I feel like the past couple of days, especially with break being so close that it feels like it’s just out of reach, everything runs so much slower with break so far,” Ashley said.

However, it is not just the students who feel this way. Some teachers have expressed stress for the end of the second semester and these weeks between the breaks, such as 9th and 11th grade English teacher Mrs. Kernes, who thinks not only students get the feeling of overbearing workloads or needing to rush to finish up before winter break. 

“I’m already anticipating on having to spend part of my break grading to come back with it all ready to go, ” Kernes said.

She said there is a need for getting things done on a timely basis due to it being time-consuming to grade and get students to turn in assignments on time or before a deadline. 

Kernes also said some portion of students show aggression in return for dealing with a break coming up so soon, due to not actually wanting break off from school.

“They are rude to their classmates, to their teachers, and that’s just them showing that they’re not looking forward to that time off because school is a sort of safe space for them, ” she said.

“We teachers have to keep that in mind when grading, to show some empathy or compassion to students that struggle more towards breaks coming up,” She continued, “So, I think emotions are running high, and teachers are dealing with a lot of different behaviors for this period of the year.”

Teachers like Mrs. Kernes hope that students will realize it was not busy work, but that they actually learned something from the semester and weren’t just trying to meet a deadline.