Dear Graduating Students

Before coming to high school, I was told that the four years would go by so quickly that if I blinked I would miss them. I don’t know about the rest of you grade 12s, but I think that is a pretty accurate summary of my time in high school. The past four years have flown by – and they’re almost over, which is enthralling and terrifying all at once.

We’re only a few weeks into second semester – our eighth, and final semester of high school – but the next few months are going to fly by. Before we know it we’ll be in long black gowns walking across our stage to receive our diploma. And then what will we do? It’s a question most of us have been asked repeatedly over the years. Postsecondary offers are starting to go out; we’re beginning to see our futures unfold. Again, it’s both enthralling and terrifying.

To graduating students, I want to say this: celebrate the acceptances you receive. Get excited about your future. But don’t forget to make the most of the time you have left in high school. After all, it’s fleeting. You don’t want to have any regrets when you look back on this time in your life.

Do something you’ve always wanted to do, and give yourself the freedom to fail. Try joining a club or council (I hear Student Council meetings are pretty fun… and I’m definitely not biased). Or, try out for a team when spring sports roll around. Even if you’ve never been part of a school team before, it’s not too late to don a jersey; and there’s no harm in at least trying! You could also try contributing to the school community by taking pictures to submit to the yearbook, writing articles for The Hayden Howl, or even starting a brand new club.

At this point in your high school experience, you’ve met lots of people. There still might be some graduating students who you don’t know, though. Smile at people you don’t usually talk to in the hallways, or start a conversation with the person in the cafeteria line with you (you can compare your favourite type of wraps – or, if all else fails, reminisce about the old caf cookies). You might not be thinking about this now, but when you graduate you’re likely going to miss people who you wouldn’t think you’d miss. You don’t want to be the person at grad who sees someone and is like “wait, they go to my school?!”, so get to know your fellow graduates.

Co-curriculars and friends are two ways to make the most of your final months at Hayden. There’s also academics, of course. If you’ve already solidified your post-secondary plans, you may feel yourself dozing off in your classes. Finish strong: you won’t regret it when you look at your midterm and final marks, or when you get a guaranteed scholarship to university because of your marks. Oh, and don’t forget to show your teachers some appreciation. They’ve done a lot for us in our three years at Hayden, and they’re pretty awesome.

No matter how eager you are to go, just ensure you look back at your time in high school and have no regrets. If it helps, imagine yourself walking across the stage to accept your diploma. What memories do you want to have? What do you want your high school experience to be like? If you can’t see yourself achieving what you want to achieve, take some steps to make your experience what you want it to be. Otherwise, you’ll blink and miss it.

Why Do We Have Exams?

Written by Danielle Izzard

Throughout my 3 and a half years of attending high school, at both Nelson and currently Hayden, I have heard this question multiple times. I have asked myself repeatedly, I have witnessed others asking themselves, and even recently, I heard a teacher ask the begging question: Why do we have exams?

Exams, in my opinion, are the epitome of stress. As someone who does stress over a lot of things, exams are just another thing to add to the list. I found myself in advanced functions last month, about to have a heart attack, when my teacher suggested that we study a total of 25 hours in preparation for the final exam. Not only was I unable to fathom studying math for 25 hours, I had other subjects to study for: data management, challenge and change, and French. And on top of all of that, I still had performance tasks to complete.

Generally, an exam is worth 10-20% of your final grade, which means if you fail or do poorly, your mark could substantially decline. This was a fear of mine, waiting on the decisions of the universities I applied to. The entire month leading up to exams I wasn’t myself. I was stressed, anxious, and extremely nervous. These were the marks that were being submitted to universities, these were the marks that could decide my future. I had never felt such extensive pressure.

I spent hours memorizing, going through review, separating myself from family and friends and facing the solidarity of my silent room. When exams eventually arrived, although I had studied for hours, I was still hesitant about them.

Many, if not all of, my friends have experienced the same feeling. As a result, we all believe that exams are unnecessary. There are ways around it. Most exams, in my opinion, test your memorization, but not your understanding and/or application. I can’t tell you how many definitions I have crammed into my mind, to recite word for word, but not know what any of it means. That is not learning.

I don’t know much about the mechanics of an exam; how teachers decide how much it weighs, the questions, the material, the length. But I know from personal experience, my own feelings, and others of my peers, how exams make us feel. And for me, the only way I can summarize the way an exam makes me feel is dumb.

This isn’t the case with all exams, though. I feel this when I study for hours, only to write it feeling unconfident, despite paying attention in class, despite exceeding on all of the assignments, and despite preparing for it. I feel this way especially when it is returned to me on the dreaded exam review day, and I see my awful mark.

That’s why my question persists: why do we have exams? I can imagine ways around it, ways to test your understanding, to assure you learned something throughout the course, without cramming all of the material into an overloaded brain the night before a two hour exam.

In advanced functions this year, my teacher had a plan to eliminate unit tests as much as possible. He came up with interviews and media making assignments as a way to grade our knowledge and application of the subject. This benefits a lot of students who learn in a creative or hands on way; it’s much easier to explain what you’re thinking verbally with your teacher instead of writing it down in a one centimetre box.

Exams can be the factor that decides which university or college a student goes to, or even if they go to a post-secondary school. Exams cause extreme stress, not only on students, but on teachers as well. They only have a few days to mark all of our exams, and they have to do it thoroughly otherwise students will complain.

I just believe that, especially at Hayden, there are other ways of testing our knowledge. Hayden values and incorporates all styles of learning, but exams only include one.

If we really want students to succeed, we should stop dumping an immense load of pressure on them, start testing them with something interesting, and something that all students can succeed in.