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For many McLean students, Jan. 1 offers little sense of renewal. It arrives in the middle of the school year, with unfinished assignments, active sports seasons and college pressure continuing across the calendar change.
“January first does not feel meaningful to me anymore,” sophomore Laila Adams-Christian said. “Even though it’s a new calendar year, school keeps going, so it doesn’t even mean anything.”
Winter sports also continue through practices, games and tournaments, leaving some students without a natural stopping point.
“It’s like nothing’s really ending besides the year. I’m still mid-season for sports,” Adams-Christian said.
The traditional pressure to begin a year with new goals can add another layer of anxiety. Junior Shanmukha Vedantam said that is especially true during a school year shaped by college applications.
“This school year is just so important because of college [applications],” Vedantam said. “The New Year’s expectations to be perfect do not help, it just makes me more stressed.”
Computer science teacher Lesley Frew said the academic calendar can make returning from winter break more difficult because students must resume work already in progress.
“If they don’t have a fresh start, it’s actually more stressful than just finishing in December, because you don’t remember everything and you’re jumping back in midstream,” Frew said.
The excitement surrounding New Year’s Eve has also faded for some students as they have grown older. Resolutions and midnight celebrations have given way to concerns about grades, schedules and the approaching end of break.
“I used to be excited [for the New Year] and celebrate with friends, but now I just treat it like a normal day of break,” Vedantam said.
Adams-Christian described a similar change.
“I used to care about the New Year when I was younger,” she said. “Now I just have to worry about school. If anything, it just signifies that the break is ending.”
Frew said teachers’ decisions about December units and grading can shape how much work awaits students in January. Because the second quarter continues after winter break, tests and assignments may remain unfinished.
“Unless a teacher carefully plans units and grades in December, students come back still in quarter 2 with tests and assignments waiting for them,” Frew said. “[The schedule] just creates even more stress.”
Winter break still provides a pause, even if the timing does not create a complete academic reset. Vedantam said returning after time away can at least make the beginning of January feel somewhat different.
“At least the New Year is during winter break, because then when we go back [to school] it feels more like a reset,” Vedantam said.
But with the quarter ending in late January, Frew said students return quickly to the demands they temporarily set aside.
“The quarter always ends at the end of January,” Frew said. “You leave for two weeks pretending school doesn’t exist, and then you come back and it hits you in the face.”
Adams-Christian said winter break would feel more meaningful if it coincided with the end of a grading period.
“I wish the break wasn’t in the middle of the second quarter,” she said. “It would make more sense if it was at the end of the quarter.”
Once classes resume, Jan. 1 quickly recedes into the ongoing academic year. For many McLean students, deadlines and grades—not the arrival of a new calendar—determine when a fresh start truly begins.