On January 19th and 20th, students attended virtual half-days in place of midterms. 

“I think the idea was to kind of give all of the students… a couple days where you could kind of do something a little different, a little change of pace,” said Coach Jutras, who teaches gym.

Students were given the choice between attending four different zoom classes: mindfulness, yoga, line dancing, and resiliency. They also attended grade-wide activities, such as an anti-bullying seminar, ending Tuesday with a career fair and Wednesday with an entrepreneur fair. 

Jutras, who taught yoga, said, “The activities were good and spot on. I think we made the most out of it.”

Students, however, had mixed views on how beneficial the half days really were. 

“I thought that [the half days] were really helpful overall, but it was just not completely worth the time. I am very grateful that we did not take midterms, so it was definitely better than that,” said sophomore Annie Art. 

Ryan Keating, a freshman, said, “I thought that the half days were beneficial, but it would have been nicer to have the classes later in the day so we could sleep in. In general, though, the fair was a little hard to navigate.”

Though some students enjoyed having the half days, many noted that it would have been more productive without the Zoom classes at all. 

“I thought the two half days were not worth having. I think taking those two days to catch up on work or do other things would have been a much more productive use of my time,” said Elizabeth Dupras, a senior. 

“Some of the classes were fun, but I think overall, it was just more time sitting on a screen that was not necessary,” said Dupras. 

Other students cited a desire to work with the administration to make a better plan for future half-days.