Does this sound familiar? You feel like throwing your phone out the window when the alarm goes off every morning, and having to get out of bed is quite possibly the worst thing that could happen to you. You remember the math homework that you didn’t finish last night, and the three tests and quizzes you haven’t started studying for yet. Your GPA seems to be dropping each time you check Infinite Campus. It takes half an hour for your car’s windshield to defrost in the morning, and the doors are practically frozen shut. You drop your thermos and watch your coffee spill down the driveway.
The person that sits behind you fourth period has to kick your desk a few times to keep you from nodding off, and it seems like you understand less of what’s going on in science than you did yesterday.
You don’t get home until well after dinner time, and you have piles of homework and studying. It seems to never end. And the worst part is that when you wake up tomorrow morning, it will start all over again.
Oh, and the weather man’s calling for more snow. Can it be June already?
You, my friend, have a case of 3rd Quarter Slump. Symptoms include exhaustion, no motivation, and absolutely zero mental capacity to learn anything at all, much less write the essay that’s due at 11:59 tonight. Your procrastinating skills are at an all time high, and you would do almost anything to get on a flight and go somewhere tropical, dumping your backpack and all of its contents out of the plane at the highest altitude.
3rd Quarter Slump is not just affecting you, however. It is a rapidly spreading illness that is plowing through BHS’s students… and even some teachers.
It feels pretty darn hopeless, but I promise you it gets better. The snowy, icy sludge that covers every sidewalk and curb will melt soon enough. The assignment that’s been hanging over your head for what feels like forever will get done. Your GPA will climb back over the cliff it’s been hanging off of. Your backpack will get lighter. The amount of emails in your inbox from Schoology will start to dwindle, and soon enough you’ll be getting one that says, “Have a great summer BHS!” from our administrators?
I promise you that it will get easier, and that summer vacation really will get here. I wish you the best of luck this 3rd Quarter. It does end.
Sincerely,
A Senior Who’s Been Through Three of Them 🙂