A pale wedge of moon has risen, the wind is whistling and the front lawns in the neighborhoods are empty. The trees are still leafless, clouds cover the sky, and there are no animals in sight. On cold, dreary nights like these, it seems that everyone is tired, busy and having withdrawals from the festivities of winter break. It’s the middle of January, the slowest time of the year. However, in countless homes across America, high school students’ heart rates are anything but slow, because it’s time for midterms!

    Many school districts reserve a week in each school year in order to carry out midterm testing. During this week, extensive cumulative tests in several academic subjects are issued. They cover everything that was taught from the beginning of the school year to the present, and are worth a large percentage of a student’s overall semester grade. What does this all mean? Essentially, students will spend the week before tests, studying into the early hours of the morning to ensure good grades.

    At my school, midterms are undniably challenging, but we students have it easier than some; after one or two midterm tests per day, we get to go home. Most tests last an hour and a half, and throughout the week we get to return home before noon every day! Following the four days of testing, we are rewarded with a long break from studying. On the Friday of midterms week, there was no school, and lucky for us, this past Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day — this means we got a four-day weekend! While some schools are not as lucky as mine and do not begin testing until this week, I will not forget to take a moment to appreciate the reason for our day off from school: Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

    Martin Luther King Jr. Day is celebrated on the third Monday of January to commemorate his life and accomplishments. Dr. King was the chief spokesman for non-violent civil rights activism, and greatly impacted the racial segregation situation of 20th century America. He successfully protested racial discrimination and is thus greatly celebrated by Americans yearly.

    In just a short span of time, hundreds of thousands of high school students put their studying skills and pencils to the test during midterms. The successful protests of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were celebrated across the nation. In retrospect, the seemingly wet and dismal month of January is filled with excitement. And on a lighter note, it’s almost the month for love: February!

    Merry Gu

    (辜子蕊)

    is a Grade 9 student at the Academy of Notre Dame de Namur in Villanova, Pennsylvania. She lives in West Chester, Pennsylvania, a suburb near Philadelphia in the United States.