With a little less than two weeks left in the first semester of the 2010/2011 school year, many students find themselves anxiously awaiting the transition into second semester.
In the first 18 weeks of the school year, LRHS had several successful fall sport seasons, fell victim to vandalism from a rival school, lost an administrator and received a hefty load of snow in the winter months.
Students like Dylan Boss, freshman, found first semester challenging. “It was confusing because everything was so different. I’m excited for next semester because I’ll know more,” Boss said.
Lizzy Gifford, freshman, isn’t worried so much about the first 18 weeks, but more about the second. “I’m expecting a lot of stress [for the upcoming semester] because I’m going to have three honors classes… But hopefully I’ll have my friends that are going through the same things so we’ll get through it together.”
Some freshmen thought that first semester was a nice change from dreary middle school. The block schedule and the different teachers were refreshing changes for freshmen. “It was really great [to finally be in high school],” said Jazmin Stone, freshman.
Although some underclassmen have high expectations for the second half of the school year, many juniors and seniors only grow more stressed as the second eighteen weeks creeps closer.
Courtney Carroll, junior, is worried about her upcoming workload. “Getting everything done on time will definitely be stressful to me.” Like Carroll, who is finding out that junior year really is the most difficult, many upper classmen are drowning amongst rigorous AP courses and college applications.
Talk about, and preparations for, college has become the main topic of conversation for many juniors, seniors and even some sophomores. First semester schedules were filled with standardized testing like the PSAT, SAT and ACT.
“I thought the PSAT would be like any other EOC, but the time limit was more strict. It threw me off a little bit. It’s something that I need to prepare for and consider when I’m going to take the SAT next year,” Maggie Zargo, sophomore, said.
While juniors worried about GPA’s, the many seniors struggled to stay awake in their last year of high school. Bouts of ‘senioritis’ hit mass numbers of seniors, leaving them bored and ready for a change.
But with their upcoming graduation, senior year is bound to improve in the second semester. Erika Martin, senior, is also excited for all of the senior events that lead up to graduation. “I’m definitely looking forward to more senior events, especially the Harry Potter themed Winterfest! And senior assembly, and the picnic. Those will be fun.”
Martin is very anxious for prom. “It’s always fun to dress up and go out with your friends! And it will be even better because we are now seniors.”
However, certain seniors will not have a second semester due to early graduation. By obtaining the necessary credits to graduate, several seniors will be leaving Leesville and moving onto college or embark on a career.
It’s not just classes that students are starting to get sick of, but the people in them as well. McCae Henderson, sophomore, said, “I want to meet new people and make new friends. And I can do that second semester because I won’t have classes with anyone from my first semester. I get to be an entirely different person.”
Even some teachers are ready for first semester to be over. Many want fresh faces in their classrooms.
“I’m looking forward to new students,” said Mrs. McGarry, sophomore English teacher.
As the first semester comes to a close, the LRHS community bite their fingernails waiting for the new semester to begin.
