{"id":6593,"date":"2024-02-06T10:40:02","date_gmt":"2024-02-06T15:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=6593"},"modified":"2024-02-06T12:18:19","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T17:18:19","slug":"clean-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=6593","title":{"rendered":"CLEAN BREAK"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

1st Place, Staff Editorial<\/strong>
2022-23, Division 1, News Writing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Staff<\/strong>
The Bucs’ Blade
Grand Haven HS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holiday break can feel like the holidays again. Every year this time seems so trivial. We\u2019d get home, do our homework and then relax, but little did we know that would lead to the downfall of our winter breaks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the second week, those who\u2019d stress about exams would fumble with mathematical equations from the start of the year, recheck historical dates and pile through mountains of vocab. It ends up ruining the whole vacation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of getting much-needed rest, stress would continue adding up as the exam date kept getting closer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, for the first year ever, our high school is rearranging exams to the week before the holiday break, and it\u2019s about time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An article in the National Library of Medicine said that up to 40% of high school students experience test anxiety. This seems like a conservative amount. But sticking to these metrics, nearly 800 students\u2019 mental health at Grand Haven is affected by the placement of exams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And before, we\u2019d hop into the next semester the week after, giving us no break to readjust our minds for potentially six completely different classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All in all, we’ll be resting easier with the change. But, besides relaxation, there are more logical reasons for setting it up this way. One is- it will set us up more for a college schedule. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one can find a university that sets its exams after winter break. It\u2019s not possible. That is because school is taxing, and no one understands it more than schools on the collegiate level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They do not simply give students two weeks off the regroup, instead bestowing them almost a month-long break to prepare for a new semester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So it only makes sense that we try to emulate it the best we can. After all, what is the goal of school? It\u2019s to prepare students for secondary education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only will it lead to a clean break from the first semester, but it will also make for a calmer second half of the year because of the lengthened schedule. And that makes the most sense. It allows students to end the year on a high note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as a bonus, it gives seniors a full semester instead of having a shortened year because of graduation, allowing them to experience their full second semester class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can\u2019t wait to see the rest of the year play out with this new schedule, and we are sure once exams are over next week, everyone will enjoy their newly stress-free vacation (even the holdouts).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we shouldn\u2019t stop changing our schedule here. Next, we need to adapt to a plan that\u2019s more progressive and one that prioritizes mental health, frequent breaks and more effective instructional time for the minds of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NW-06. Staff Editorial<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Staff editorials should represent the opinion of the staff, editors or editorial board on a timely news matter of concern to the school, community, state, nation or world. They may express appreciation, offer interpretation or attempt to deal with problems. Editorials are not to be bylined, signed or initialed<\/strong>, or in any way identified as being the opinion of the writer(s). Submit a PDF of the print page(s) on which the story was published or the URL to the story on an online news site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUDGING CRITERIA<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Represents the opinion of the staff or editorial board<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Topic relevant to interests and\/or welfare of school or students<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Wins reader interest with a compelling lead<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Presents evidence\/interpretation in logical sequence<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • States issue; uses effective examples, facts, and comparisons to clarify<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Deals with specific issue: avoids preaching, rhetoric, and cliches<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Shows sufficient thought and research<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Sentences, paragraphs of varied length; written clearly, concisely and vividly<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Proper diction\/grammar<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    1st Place, Staff Editorial2022-23, Division 1, News Writing By StaffThe Bucs’ BladeGrand Haven HS Holiday break can feel like the holidays again. Every year this time seems so trivial. We\u2019d get home, do our homework and then relax, but little did we know that would lead to the downfall of our winter breaks. During the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,44],"tags":[206,20],"class_list":["post-6593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-nw","category-editorial-nw","tag-2022-23","tag-division1","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Mikayla Mazza","author_link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?author=14"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6K0n6-1Il","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6593\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}