Link Crew and Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) are both combating stress and helping students prepare for midterms. They hope their assistance benefits students’ overall grades and experiences.

During the weeks prior to exams, SADD posted daily messages and posters regarding stress and how to combat it around school. The posters’ main purposes were to spread confidence and reduce stress during midterm preparation.

SADD adviser Lisa Steiner pitched the idea of hanging anti-stress posters. She hopes the signs will help spread awareness about midterm-based stress to the student body.

“We hang the posters around the school to spread our messages and hope our students become more aware,” Steiner said via email. “SADD hopes that our messages help our student population make better choices in (their) lives.”

Sophomore and SADD member Nathan Davis finds that stressing out can be detrimental. He believes the posters around the school will help create a more relaxed environment.

“We hope to help kids reduce stress during midterms and finals because we know it’s a very stressful time,” Davis said. “And we feel stress can lead to depression (and) it could lead to many bad things in a student’s life. So, we’re trying to avoid that as much as possible.”

In addition to SADD’s anti-stress initiative, Link Crew hosted their annual freshman study session on Jan. 21, by having the Link Crew leaders invite their freshman groups to the event. The meeting presented freshmen with the chance to learn more about midterm preparation, as well as get help with specific subjects or reviews.

English teacher and Link Crew adviser Joe Drouin hoped the event had a positive effect on students that attended. He believes giving freshman the opportunity to ask questions in a safe environment will prepare them for the exams.

“We want to make sure the freshmen are familiar with the format of the midterm exams, that all their questions are answered and have an idea of how to study for midterms since this is their first real experience with an elongated test such as the midterm,” he said. “We’re hoping that they’ll be comfortable with the exams and (we) hope they do well.”

Freshman Morgan Semack believes her experience at the event will aid her in preparation for the midterms. Since this is her first year taking these types of exams, she wants to learn productivity skills and receive help on parts of her review guides.

“I think it will help me because other people will be there and help me out on things that I don’t understand on the review guides,” Semack said. “And I think I can just get more stuff done being there.”

Being in the same situation for several years has motivated junior Link Crew leader Lauren Archambeau to help other freshmen. She volunteered at the study session and feels it will have an impact on the attendees’ scores.

“I think it will benefit them because they will have a better understanding on how to study,” she said. “They’ll learn different study habits and they will use their study habits throughout their high school career.”

Drouin has noticed that midterm-related stress forms when students don’t fully understand the test. He finds that attending the study session will help students combat that stress.

“I think a lot of (stress) comes from not knowing what to expect and this event will help them prepare for the unexpected,” Drouin said. “It’s pretty overwhelming to put a semester’s worth of knowledge into 90 minutes. So, I think that’s why a lot of (students) kind of stress out.”

Davis finds that with students feeling stressed about exams, both the student and teacher need to work together to ensure success.

“I think lots of preparation is definitely needed, so teachers should do everything they can to help the kids get prepared,” Davis said. “I feel it’s very important for the teacher to be confident because if the teacher is confident in their students, then the students can be confident themselves. It’s hard to be confident in yourself when you have nobody else that is confident.”