The holiday season has come to a close, so now comes high schooler’s least favorite time of year, midterms… or so you’d think. 

The last time a midterm or final exam was  assigned at Triton was January of 2019.  Who can even remember back that long? Everyone thought January 2022 would provide the return of midterms, but we all thought wrong. 

It has been three years since COVID-19 made its way to the United States and put the whole world on pause for a while. Since then, we have managed to adjust in multiple ways, but our education has never been the same since everything hit the fan. That being said, midterms were yet again canceled, and students are beaming with joy. 

“I think the cancellation is very beneficial to both the grades and mental health of students,” said Triton Senior Louis Bohlen. Many might agree with this statement, considering how stressful exams can be. “I think that the administration’s efforts to avoid testing during the midterm time period is a good thing as well,” said Bohlen. 

Triton Senior Channing Marengi shares the same opinion as Bohlen… “I am not a fan of midterms or any exams, so when I heard they were canceled again I was so excited.” 

Many students at Triton are in high spirits following the sudden cancellation of mid year exams, but why exactly are they canceled again? It’s no surprise that COVID-19 has been surging through the country, especially during the colder months where more of us are together inside due to the low temperatures. Therefore, COVID cases at Triton have been on an incline. As of this past week, there have been 80 COVID-19 positive cases in our school district, alongside 109 close contacts. These cases are not all students, some of them have been teachers, which affects the curriculum. 

Because of this the Triton school board made the decision to cancel midterm exams, and replace them with ‘catch up days’ for students who need the extra time to make up any missing work. Triton Senior Olivia Bateman is in favor of these catch up days, she said “I think it will be very beneficial to have time to catch up especially where so many kids have been absent.” There have been many kids whose academics have suffered to do COVID exposure. Luckily these catch up days have been implemented in order for them to have a better chance at success. 

Though this seems like a smashing success for students, there is one downside to students missing out on yet another year of mid year testing. The downside is the exam schedule. The testing schedule took place during the week of Martin Luther King Day, and the week consisted of half days. Students would arrive at 7:42 to take their first exam, have a break in between, then take their second final (depending on their classes) and be out of school by 10:44.

 Due to test cancellations, students will not experience half days, instead there will be full days with longer class periods (ninety minutes each), and students mutually agree it is not fun. 

“I am not a fan of longer classes, sitting in a class for ninety minutes is excessive but I see why they’re doing it”, said Triton Senior Dylan Merrill. “Being given a catch up day is nice but sitting in class for that long seems annoying”, he said.