The 100th day of school was on Thursday, Feb. 1, and many high school students were unaware of the date’s significance. As we age, all fun events to break up the monotony of our education have been slowly stripped away because people believe we have grown out of wanting candy and coloring sheets. High schoolers may be more mature but they go through more content, often get less sleep and most have to split their time with work, sports and clubs. High schoolers want these parties to celebrate these milestones just as much as a kindergarten would, if not more.
However, these decreases in the fun at school are not just affecting the grown, the elementary students have also noticed they are not getting the same amount of breaks as they used to. No matter the age group there was a consensus in thinking that breaks are deserved even if unnecessary. For this article, I interviewed siblings from the Meiners family who come from a range of different grades and have had different experiences with the 100th day of school.
Lainey Meiners is the youngest of the siblings and is currently in preschool. The preschoolers have attended for fewer days than the other grades in the North Polk District, so they have not yet reached the 100-day milestone but she is expecting a party when she does.
Preschoolers have been working very hard to learn their “numbers, letters and shapes” Lainey stated. When asked if she is excited for her 100-day part she replied with an excited “YES!”
While the youngest of the bunch has parties to look forward to for a couple more years, the second-youngest, Sidney Meiners, has just now started to feel the effects of lessening parties and an increasing workload.
“In kindergarten, we got balloons, a dance party, we got to color stuff and Mrs. Jones gave us a book and candy. Now they only give us a Smartie for six math quizzes,” explained the second-grader.
Regarding her first year without a party, Sidney had a lot more to say, “Kindergarten starts so fun, and then you realize it’s no fun at all. The more grades you get in the more boring-er it’s going to get and then it’s very sad because we did so many days for nothing.”
The second oldest in the family is third-grader Carver Meiners, who also did not have any sort of event to mark the occasion. However, Carver has grown used to having fun leaving the classroom and feels he has grown out of it.
“All we did was cut out a one, zero and zero and made something with it but I am fine not having a party” Carver stated.
High school junior, Morgan Meiners, feels that the high schoolers deserve parties the most and need some sort of incentive to keep them going with the increased workload.
“My siblings do not even do half the work I do every single day and they seem to have an event or dress-up day all the time in comparison to me. I understand you have to make learning exciting for kids, however, the high schoolers deserve to do a coloring sheet to destress once in a while too,” concluded Morgan.
