The feelings of anticipation and stress build as the week of Dec. 15-18 approaches (finals week). Essentially, each day of that week Clark students will have two finals to take and will be dismissed at 12:20.

According to Georgetown University’s National Health Services, many students experience a high stress level during finals. While each person responds to stress differently, stress does have a physical, emotional and psychological impact on everyone. The website offers tips for students who are feeling under stress because of finals.

Sophomores Jacquelyn Goryan and Lily Eloyan said they feel stressed about their Spanish final. Eloyan and Goryan have Spanish teacher Lauren Hilmar-Braga for Spanish 5-6. “Ms. Braga is a great teacher… we’ve had her for two years,”Goryan said. “ I have a non-comfortable grade in that class so I feel like the final is a do or die,” Eloyan said.  Eloyan said she does not feel prepared for her biology final either. “I feel like I’m not ready,” she said.

The girls said they had ideas on how to prepare for their stressful finals. “Definitely get comfy at home, put relaxing music, stay in a quiet environment, and make sure to have flashcards they are saviors,” Goryan said. They also had some studying ideas as well. “Reviewing over time is good… but the night before I will definitely do a lot of review too,” Goryan said. Eloyan was relieved for some classes. “I’m not worried about the Davises’ final though,” she said. “I feel like they will really prepare us.”

Some teachers are also affected with stress as well and others not so much. Humanities teacher Christopher Davis said he was not too stressed about the new Common Core, while U.S. History teacher Eric Kursinski did see some impact. Kursinski said that due to the Common Core, his test would use a higher level of thinking and instead of asking the “‘what happened’ [kind of question],  I will be asking ‘why it happened.’” Kursinki was absent some of November, due to a field trip, Lynda.com trips and meetings, one of which took place in Palm Springs. “I lost a lot of time, but not too many days with the history class,” he said.  I shifted the presentation final to a second semester activity and will just be giving a test.”

Kursinski’s photography class will be having what Kursinksi called a “self-guided project.” “It will be nice to see their internal thinking process and personalities reflected,” he said. The students will be taking a series of photos for a hobby they enjoy.