Every year begins with an eruption of energy as 12:00 am first arrives on January first. Millions of people set off fireworks and cheer in excitement for a new year. With this excitement often comes New Years resolutions as well as a rejuvenated sense of hope for life. Unfortunately for high school students a few days later they are tossed right back into school with the end of the semester looming a few short weeks away with finals and big reviews due in many classes.

Why do we celebrate New Years anyways? It’s just an obligatory date that was put into place by people it’s not even the end of winter as we still have to go through a few months of the cold.

So is the holiday worth celebrating? Is the hope that is produced by this holiday momentary and how can it stack up against renewed stresses of the pandemic and school?

Does one event outweigh the other or do they cancel each other out? The new year can be a time to recenter yourself and embrace a less stressful life. Whereas finals week can be a time of falling back on core habits with many students stressing, procrastinating, and staying up too late studying before tests.

Sometimes this can lead to more stress after the break than you had before it, and with exams combined with a long period before another break it is easy for some students to feel overwhelmed.

And yet every year there seems to be some students who have a boundless sense of optimism and joy. So how do they do it, is it the new year hope winning out or is it something that is based more on student’s personality all year long.

So how does the student body of Davis High feel about this? Are they excited to be back in a new year or are they too worried with the stress of school to be excited about a new year?

“The new year feels no different. I don’t thing that the changing of the year will bring positive change. Only action will bring change. I do think it is significant to recognize the passage of time, but to treat it as if it alone will bring change is foolish. And so I am even more stressed now than I was before winter break.”-Cameron Caldwell, a senior at Davis High.

“I think that the new year is less of a new experience, but a mental reset that we can use as a point of positive change. After coming back from break, I’m much less stressed than I was before. A break during the holidays is necessary and very useful. The end of term is a stressful time but once you get trough it is a great relief of stress.”-Duncan Jeppson, a Junior at Davis High

It seems that some the students of Davis High may be more stressed at the beginning of the new year while many others have been able to adopt a positive attitude and are combating some of the stress of coming back at the end of term. Hopefully as the year goes on conditions will become better and people will be able to be more optimistic and be able to be happy.