The holiday season is upon Freedom High School, and with that also comes the massive time crunch between Thanksgiving and winter break. Third quarter is nefarious for its stressful amounts of homework which are expected to be completed in the awkward three week period, and this is affecting mental health and the overall tone of the school.

Despite the fact that the holiday season is one of the most festive times of the year, students are loaded up with many different types of responsibilities. Those celebrating different holidays must think about gift giving, traveling, seeing family, practices and all the homework that comes with it.

This is making students around FHS feel extremely stressed rather than happy for the upcoming holidays.

“I personally celebrate Christmas which means I’m worrying about getting gifts for all my family members while also feeling the senior stress because I’m thinking about college in addition to the homework I’m getting in my classes,” senior Jaya Tuggle said.

The overall morale also decreases, as students start to lose motivation while looking forward to the break.

“It’s hard to stay motivated because all I want to do is make it to break, but I have to remember to keep my grades up,” junior Erika Strobel said.

With the massive amounts of stress that comes with the season, there are also ways to stay up beat like taking lots of breaks, deep breaths and frequent stretch breaks which are all recommended to control stress levels.

Despite the homework, the holidays still remain one of the most joyful times of the year and with using stress level techniques they can stay that way even when in school!