Wellness Wednesday. Five minutes of wellness. Wellness rooms. This school year, WCHS has tried to implement a multitude of wellness opportunities for students. Now, WCHS has decided to take away one of these privileges by changing the two hardlines per quarter into four.

“I think it was pointless for our school to initially make the deadlines so flexible if they were going to change it,” WCHS junior Daniela Ruiz said. “Students got used to being able to turn things in later and get things done in a way that works for them. However, this deadline change has limited our ability to work at our own pace and our ability to plan out when we are going to get things done in order for our work to be as best as it can be. We got comfortable with being able to organize ourselves and now that freedom has been taken away.”

WCHS students became well-accustomed with having the ability to pace themselves. Although this deadline change has relieved teachers from the stress of having to grade hundreds of late assignments at the last minute, students had adapted to the idea of only having two hard deadlines per quarter and were comfortable with it.

“I do understand the reason for why they changed the deadline, but I am not a hundred percent sure if the reason was strong enough to enact it in the middle of our school year,” WCHS junior Lyndee Sklute said. “I think starting a new deadline system should start at the beginning of a new year. It would have been easier if they just created a deadline policy and stuck to it.”

Many WCHS students were surprised by the unexpected change to the deadlines. For a variety of students, the mid-year adjustment to this initiative has been difficult.

“Previously, when we only had two deadlines, I was less stressed, which made it easier for me to complete my work and be able to put all my effort into it,” Ruiz said. “This new deadline change however, has made it harder for me to be able to put as much work into assignments and I have found myself having to prioritize specific classes more than usual. Although I have always prioritized some classes, after this deadline change I realized I’ve had to constantly decrease my effort in some classes because if not, I wouldn’t have been able to keep up. It has also made me less organized, and my work isn’t as neat.”

Some WCHS students feel as though the quality of their work has decreased. They were comfortable with the freedom that deadline flexibility gave them. According to Cross River Therapy, 45 percent of high school students feel stressed nearly everyday in school. The former deadlines helped them handle that stress by giving them the opportunity to manage their own time.

“The previous deadlines helped me be able to create my own schedule,” Sklute said. “With other activities and school and time with my friends, I think the fewer deadlines allowed me to balance everything easier.”

For students with a multitude of extracurriculars, these new deadlines have proved to be challenging. WCHS students are confused about some of the reasoning surrounding the deadline change.

“I can see how it would be overwhelming for teachers to receive so much work from some students at the end of the quarter,” Ruiz said. “However many teachers don’t grade assignments when they are turned in and some students have to wait weeks to receive their grade back which is also stressful for us. Some teachers leave putting grades in till the end of the quarter, which leads to my confusion as to why students have to turn work in so early.”

The new hard deadlines do not all align with the dates that teachers have to turn in grades. Some WCHS students feel as though it is stressful to have to turn in work at an earlier date but then not receive their grades until much later. Overall, a variety of students feel as though the mid year change that the new deadlines have caused has been mostly damaging.

“I feel like the deadline change has impacted me more negatively than positively,” Ruiz said. “I realized I am more stressed and rushed when doing my work since things were due earlier. I also am not always sure of what dates I am supposed to turn work in by, which has made school more stressful. This deadline change has been difficult to adjust to as it has been harder to organize myself and my schedule.”