By Isabella Montenegro

Opinion Editor

At Costa, there has been debate over the length of semesters in the district calendar and the scheduling of school breaks. The length difference of each semester is beneficial for students, allowing students deeper relaxation during their holiday breaks.

According to Principal Dr. Karina Gerger, the first semester is 17 weeks and the second semester is 22 weeks. After various discussions, it was decided that for the 2021-22 school year, the school would start earlier in the year. The main reason for this was to accommodate the ending of the first semester to be before winter break in December, according to Gerger. This allows for an appropriately placed winter break that includes the entire holiday season and New Years’ celebrations.    

By cutting the first semester short and ending it before the end of the year, students get a true break away from all of the studying that is done during the first semester. Students are constantly put under pressure throughout the school year. If the semesters were more even, finals would have to take place after winter break, and students would have to study over their break. Students should not be bombarded with schoolwork or studying for exams during these precious weeks of leave, so the current semester scheduling is favorable. 

According to the Lacer Link, during the school year students are losing sleep, which is extremely unhealthy for teenagers’ bodies. During the time that students attend high school, their bodies are in a crucial growth stage. A study made by Brown University School of Medicine recommended that high school students should sleep nine hours each day in order to stay attentive the next day. This insufficient amount of sleep is a major issue for students’ mental health. Specifically, loss of sleep can lead to a decline in performance, memory lapses, and mood swings. During the time that students attend high school, their bodies are in a crucial growth stage. Losing sleep during this stage can harm students’ physical and mental health for years to come. Therefore, finals should be taken before winter break, leaving the students with a true break where they will not have to continue studying. Instead, they will have countless hours to catch up on the sleep they lost during the school year. 

As always, there is a possibility that teachers will not be able to fit all the instruction into the first semester, which is due to the discrepancy between the semester lengths. If that is the case, the teacher has the privilege of rolling material not taught in the first semester to 2nd semester. However, this can oftentimes be an issue for courses that only last one semester, such as semester-long AP courses. The best solution to this is for teachers to condense and speed up instruction to fit within the first semester’s allotted time. 

As teachers that teach semester courses focus on the idea that the length is still unfair, one must take into account that teachers tend to lecture less during the weeks that students are preparing and taking their AP exams. Additionally, there are two school breaks, a mid-winter break in February, and a spring break in April.

All in all, the shorter first semester benefits all Costa students to relieve them of stress and pressure over their two-week winter break. It is a good decision on the administration’s part, as breaks are to be spent unwinding and with family.