With midyears looming on the horizon, a large amount of Hingham High School’s student body is dealing with stress and responsibility in drastically different manners.

Now that pressure for language midyear testing is over, students face History and Math testing on Monday, January 23rd, and English and Science testing on the 24th. Some students are taking two classes of the same core subject this year, meaning that they either need to take an additional midyear on the 25th or take a third midyear on Monday or Tuesday. For example, someone taking both Physics and Environmental Science may choose to come back to school on the 25th to take their Environmental Science exam.

In such a concentrated testing period, students have been struggling with the balancing act of dealing with both homework and studying; some have not studied at all.

As Hannah Kerber, a current junior, once said, “ew, no”.

This accurately sums up the common state of mind for most teens at Hingham High School. Francesca Corrado is a senior who will be continuing her studies at the Berklee College of Music next year. Since she has already matriculated into college, she responded with an unflustered, “I feel fine”.

Clearly, students who have not been admitted into college feel much more overwhelmed than those who have. The unwavering pressure on each student to reach their goals is unbearable to many, and some shut down, therefore leaving every bit of studying until the last minute.

However, this pressure is not universal. Davin Thureson, a sophomore, described, “I’m, tired. I want to go home. I’m not studying. In fact, I feel like I’m giving up because it’s halfway through the year and that’s when I start to feel hopeless. Midyears don’t help that”.

For Davin, midyears are merely a hurdle in his day before the next sleep because, frankly, he has lost his passion for learning. Through constant evaluation and intensity in school, Davin has lost any interest that once existed in learning. If sleep is more desirable than learning, maybe a warning sign should go off in the minds of school administrations across the country.

As John Joyce, a wise senior, once said, “If the administration really wants less testing and more teaching, they should practice what they preach”.