Many like to say the school year is a breeze: it flies by quickly but it also has the power to knock you down. There are many excruciating battles to fight, like those against time, friends, family, grades, and most importantly our own minds. This is a pretty understandable conflict, as endurance is not easy to master: just take a look at P.E. class when it’s mile day. Giving up may seem like the better decision, but many students already know that giving up is simply not possible, so 99% of students look towards the next best thing: summer. The idea of beaches, tans, heat, and a school-free environment gives the same encompassing relief as the trill of the whistle signaling the end of running straights and curves on the track. However, as the school year progresses and we get closer to the end, that idea of summer seems to consume us entirely until we are submerged in the wave to summer.

At first, there are subtle signs of the “summer takeover”—a few of my favorites being a constant sweat-slicked smile, change in attire, or daydreaming in class. These small changes eventually create a tide that completely affects your mindset, and suddenly you feel as if you are already in summer. You are lounging on a lawn chair, feeling the sand on your skin at the beach, smelling the sunscreen as you reapply after coming out of the ocean–what was that about daydreaming? I bet the starry-eyed kids dozing off in class can attest to these peaceful visions of a summer come early. 

Rudely waking you from your daydreams is undoubtedly the worst precursor to summer: AP season. After a year of procrastination, the thought of an AP exam for many students seems just as cruel as having fourth period lunch. Not only do students have to learn odd acronyms like APES and APUSH, but one also has to review a year’s worth of material in under a week (depending on how you rigidly budget your time, or if you do so at all). With the only source of motivation coming from the nonrefundable fee you’ve already paid by that point, some students only agree to take their exams to not let the money go to waste when it could have instead gone to buying cheap pizza in the front lobby after school. The only source of comfort for many struggling students is the various YouTubers who gain hundreds of thousands of views for their expertise–this one’s for you, Heimler’s History–and who are the only true savior of these students’ sanity. 

Though nothing can truly erode one’s summer spirit like AP season, I can confidently say that a close second would be state testing. This universal experience for grades 1-12 is sure to undermine the summer frenzy of many students, as every student must sit through lengthy directions, trials, and testing where the inevitable computer crash leads to mayhem that resembles that of the lunch line during mac-and-cheese week. 

But do not be discouraged, as eventually the wave will reach the shore, where a summer of fun and relaxation prevails. Imagine spending all your time outside, tanning, and being with friends constantly. All you have to do is to just keep swimming, evade the sharks laying in wait in the water, and hope that salt doesn’t get in your eye!