By Paul Acevedo, Cooper Barnes and Arnes Balaj
With the end of school is right around the corner and everyone so busy with events, graduations and finals, several curious reporters from The Branford Buzz started to wonder how everyone – students and teachers – are preparing for finals week at Branford High School.
Today is the last day of classes and exams start tomorrow. Graduation is set for June 14.
To get to the bottom of it all, the reporters found Principal Lee Panagoulias to ask him what he is doing to prepare for the last week.
“It’s a very busy time, but comes to an abrupt end. I’m making sure senior events are on schedule,” Panagoulias said. “I’m making sure everything is ready for graduation. We’ve been preparing for 6 months. I’m very lucky for the support from the staff, teachers and administration. They are a big part of making everything go smoothly.”
The reporters then decided to interview some seniors. While doing this, they caught up with students from different types of groups.
There are seniors who are always ready and prepared to where they can relax and then there are others where they don’t even know what’s going on.
Seniors Scout Engstrom and Gianna Piscitelli told The Buzz that “I don’t actually have to take exams. I am mainly trying to mentally prepare myself for work since summer is near.”
Then there are other students like Rio Vulinovic, who said he does not have a clue what finals are.
“I didn’t even know we even had finals, I thought they stopped doing them,” Rio said. “You’re saying I’m going to fail?… I’m so late to class.”
The next part of the assignment was to catch on to what teachers need to do to prepare students and themselves.
Reporters for The Buzz went to the cooking class and asked Mrs. Baker what she was doing and she replied “I made study guides and schedules, also preparing to get judges for our chef of the week.”
Next, they went to the Spanish teacher Mr. Cintron and it was a similar story
“I make sure that the kids are aware of their work and giving opportunities for make-up work, also good cumulative activities, making sure kids are aware of not putting effort in their work and showing them there are consequences,” Cintron said. “Then I’ll clean the classroom and bring objects home and prepare for next year”.
Once all information was gathered, The Buzz has concluded that most students were pretty similar, and it’s the same with teachers on their own preparations.
Everyone is ready for school to end.
With that in mind, The Buzz has some suggestions to make sure you have everything in order. Make a checklist of all the things you need to do before the last day of school, like returning textbooks, cleaning out your locker, and saying goodbye to your teachers and classmates.
Also, start thinking about your plans for the summer and beyond. Whether you’re going to college, starting a job, or taking a gap year, it’s a good idea to have a rough idea of what you want to do.
Remember to enjoy your last few weeks of school and celebrate all that you’ve accomplished. Thank you from The Branford Buzz.
