WOODBURY ー Panic, fear, anxiety, commotions occur around Nonnewaug High School’s midterms each January. But this year, those emotions may not be happening as much because midterms for year-long classes are not going to be taken anymore.
Half-year classes will have a final, but the stress of having six or seven mid-year exams is over. Many students at Nonnewaug feel that having exams is a stressor.
“Midterms and finals are super stressful especially if you have other commitments outside of school like sports and jobs,” says Eleanor Lingley, a junior. “The work is so demanding and I lose sleep over it. The demand adds up and I will take any break I can.”
Je’Marie Willbright, a junior, agrees with Lingley.
“I think that midterms being taken away is a good thing because it is so stressful,” said Willbright. “I think it is a good idea having it just be for half-year classes and it takes a weight off my shoulders.”
For the half-year courses, seniors may be exempt from the final if their grade in that class is above ninety. Juniors being upperclassmen feel that this rule is beyond not fair, but some seniors agree that it is necessary.
“I don’t think it is fair that privileges are taken away from juniors,” says Marcella Vetro, a junior. “We are upperclassmen, and we can drive. We have as much responsibility as seniors. There is no point in getting good grades anymore, it is stupid. I think we should also have the right to be exempt. We work so hard for our grades and even if they are above 90 we still have to take it. I don’t like this rule.”
This subject has started a controversy.
“I think that midterms being taken away from a full year class is fair for seniors,” says Justin Longo, a senior. “We have been through all of the four years having to take the midterm and I think we deserve to be able to have the chance to be exempt. I think it is necessary for us because we have been through a lot of the changes in the school. I do think that even though juniors are also upperclassmen, it is more fair towards seniors because it is also our last year, and we should have senior privileges.”
Nonnewaug takes grades and the reputation of the school seriously. Administrators agreed that seniors have the upper hand in this decision because exam experiences are important for the majority of students.
“We want our juniors to experience testing and taking tests, “ says Declan Curtin, Nonnewaug assistant principal. “The more exposure they get, the better. For those who will go on to college, it is important going through those experiences and thinking that things can be gained. We believe seniors have high grades and are capable of being very competitive and doing well on their own. We believe in senior privileges and thought this was a good example saying thank you for your good efforts. It is about what they are doing. They show up to school, they have really good grades and attendances are pretty good. They should be rewarded for that. That’s why we think our seniors specifically should get that recognition.”
Kyle Brennan, a teacher at Nonnewaug, agrees that it should only be a senior privilege.
“We didn’t do midterms during the COVID year, and I don’t know if it had a positive or negative effect back then,” says Brennan. “I typically like midterms because they provide a nice halfway point in the course. It is a mid-year break to kind of assess what we have done well, and mentally I always feel like it is helpful to have a half-year point of the year. I don’t know if they are completely necessary, but I typically think they are valuable experiences. I don’t think juniors should be exempt. When I was in high school, juniors took the exam and some seniors had the privileges.”
All of this comes with reasoning on why the final decision was made. Curtin has multiple reasons for removing midterms.
“We took midterms away because our teachers are working really hard making formative assessments,” stated Curtin. “We think we have enough information that tells us where our students’ levels and skills are. We have NWEA testing and meetings going over student progress. We believe that it is important especially with school cancellations and delays that we get into a routine. We keep the same structure we are doing that is why we took away midterms. We certainly believe that we have all the information that we need to know where our student levels are at. Those commissions equal ruling midterms exam for this year.”
At the end of all the debates, ultimately the choice has given Curtin a positive mindset on why he thought this choice was right after hearing a lot of controversy among students.
“We thought a lot about it and we included teachers in the discussion and central office,“ says Curtin. “We are proud of our pride at Nonnewaug High School. We do a lot of checking throughout the year on where students are at on tests. Going forward it is important to take exams and learn from them so when we go to college we are prepared for situations like that. We are happy with our decision, as always we will review information we get back deciding if we will continue this.”
