The sun is peeking through the clouds, all the rain has dried up, nature is crawling out of its many shelters and we should be doing the same. We should be crawling out of school, but we’re not. School is not winding down as we expected, thanks to projects and busy work. I know many of you didn’t think you could survive the storm of AP testing, two weeks of three to four-hour tests, but you did. I know I didn’t when I was sitting through the AP Calculus, Government, English Language and Comparative Government exams. Who knows if I scored 5’s on any of them, but, in July, I will know whether I have earned potential college credits or whether I suffered through hours and hours of testing for the sake of testing. The problem is that AP classes are not over even though their curriculum has ended. Ironic, huh? But there is hope; however, hope in the one month of school left for the general populous and the one week seniors have left. Lucky you, seniors. Lucky you. You are the first to breathe the air of the summer season.

When I finished my AP tests last Thursday, I muddled through the rest of my classes and, aside from a poorly-timed Spanish test, entered a vegetative state. I rode the bus home and tossed myself into a depression on the couch. I released two weeks of tension, rather a whole year of it, from my lungs. That’s when I realized, it wasn’t over yet. “Does it ever end,” I remember myself asking the wide-eyed cat in my hands. She didn’t answer. I still have projects. I have nothing else to learn from my AP classes, in particular, and yet I am still working and submitting work for my teachers to grade. Busy work, anyone? Now, there is some sense to these soul-draining projects. Teachers can’t just have students bouncing off the walls for the next month. They need to keep us busy even if they no longer have anything to teach. That’s when I asked my cat why school couldn’t just end after AP exams. Someone asking their cat for answers may not be the most lucid of thinkers, but it’s not an outrageous thought. Except for non-AP courses. Darn less-difficult classes. Why do you have to exist? Sorry, Raiders, but, for the bulk of us, school will continue to keep up the pressure for the next four weeks. Four weeks.

There’s our only solace. Luckily, school has a time limit and when its last day passes on the calendar, we have about two months before we have to start this cycle all over again. Raiders, we have only a month left and only a few weeks in which teachers can continue to assign work. After all, they need time to finalize their grades before the end of the year after all. The last week or so of school should be smooth sailing. I wouldn’t want to jinx anyone, of course, but teachers have a limited amount of time to grade the last of your blood and sweat-stained work. Enjoy deadlines for once. You are not the only ones that have them.

School is winding down. I know it doesn’t feel like it as projects and busy work weigh you down, but you are in the home stretch. AP testing has ended. Finals are here and you are checking them off your to-do list. Teachers are beginning the process of dismantling their rooms. We are all on the verge of taking a long-awaited deep breath before we have to start the arduous process of school all over again. Finally, a deep breath.