For many students, the start of the second semester means a switch in their daily schedule. It means changing lunch times, finally getting that open mod, or changing out gym for psychology. It means learning to navigate through the hallways to get to the class on the other side of the building, or getting used to turning left out of English class instead of right.
It’s a time of change and starting over, despite being in the middle of the school year. In new electives, students might be asked to complete get-to-know-you forms, which feels suspiciously like the first day of school. They get to start their core classes on a clean slate, at least in terms of the gradebook. They receive new seating charts and learn that they dislike the person who sits on their right.
However, most core classes remain in the same scheduling spot all year, along with certain electives, like world languages, or band and choir. This leads to the majority of a schedule remaining the same, with only a few classes changing. It’s an odd juxtaposition of emotions: feeling as though everything is different, but also that mostly your life has remained the same.
Along with the new schedules, students also experience the stress of finalizing first-semester grades. They must do their best to make up for the test that they bombed and finish that late assignment from two months ago, and quickly, because teachers are quite keen to remind them of this impending deadline. If they’re lucky, they can bargain for extra credit.
In general, though, not much has changed. Students go about their lives, and continue to show up to classes, participate in activities, and do their homework. The second semester may bring change, but it certainly doesn’t feel like anything has been uprooted.