While called a break, winter break is anything but that. Students are left distraught with the pressure of finals lingering over them, and instead of happily rejoicing over a completed semester, they experience the nagging stress of finals week around the corner. 

At Edina High School, finals are taken two weeks after winter break. However, private schools such as Blake have finals the week before break.

Sophomore Claire Swiderski would prefer the latter option. 

“After winter break I forget everything,” Swiderski said. “I already forgot all of math, but before winter break I was very locked in [and knew everything].” 

To avoid Swiderski’s struggle, many students try to study during break. However, they often fall into the trap of procrastination, an issue arising from the feeling of extensive amounts of time during the two weeks off.

“I always say I’m going to study during breaks, but I never do,” senior Peter Jacobs said.

Another downfall of break being before finals is the quick transition to the next semester. Junior Cristian Diaz said he would like a longer break after the semester ends to relax without anything hanging over his head. 

“Having finals, having a three day weekend, and then starting a new semester kind of sucks,” he said. “I would maybe want to try a year where we would have finals before.”

Unfortunately, the school can’t do much about moving finals. Jenn Carter, the assistant principal, said there are certain rules for when the semester can end, regardless of winter break.

“I would love if we could have finals before winter break because it’s hard to have a pause and then come back,” she said. “All those starts and stops aren’t great for anybody, but it really is about the balancing of the semesters. It’s really hard if the semesters aren’t equal, especially for our semester-only [classes].”