Jacob Simmons, Staff Writer

Call it the “Third Quartile Blues”: With very few breaks from January to April, the pain of waking up five days a week is a drag for most students.
As the year winds down, seniors suddenly feel a jolt of excitement as graduation approaches, and summer break fills the minds of underclassmen. Late nights are spent doing projects thought to be worthless of the time you spend, and studying for tests becomes a part of your daily routine.
Starting right after winter break, teachers create intense workloads up until Easter and students’ motivation slows down. It is considered to be such an intense time because this is the build up to the end.
Senior Devin Barkefelt said, “Right after winter break everyone comes back and is in the holiday mood of being lazy. You just give up, not completely, but just your drive decreases. You’re tired of the work, the people, and just the mood as a whole. Just starting new again is a pain.”
The beginning of the year is typically an introduction and the baby steps of the courses on a student’s schedule. Meeting new friends and some old and understanding the course and the teachers that teach it, the second nine weeks consists of grinding work.
At this time, the holidays approach, making students and teachers grateful for such an abundance of time with family and friends. After Christmas is when everything seems to drag. It seems as if nothing is happening.

“Teachers work get harder the farther you get through them. It’s calm before the storm and then it hits you pretty hard,” senior Mason Reisz added. “You get back and it starts faster. It’s almost information overload, because they have to cram requirements in before students lose complete interest and before summer officially comes in.
Not only for Penn-Trafford, but for all schools across the country, the third quarter seems to drag along every year, and the work seems the most difficult everytime.