Groton wins again! At Groton, there are many fun traditions. One of my favorites is St. Mark's Day.
Groton and St. Marks have a playful rivalry that manifests itself at the end of every semester with a day of athletic games: St. Mark's Day. Depending on the term and year, Groton athletes either make a trip to the St. Mark's campus, or the St. Mark's students head over to ours. This year, St. Mark's came to us for fall and will do the same in winter, and we will visit them in spring. (Next year, the pattern flips. We will go there for fall and winter, and they will come to us for spring.)
Although I did not play in a game against St. Mark's (they do not have a volleyball team), I still enjoyed the day. My friends and I, who did not have athletic commitments that day, went to all the games. We started with football and then circled around the various games. Usually, when other sports have games, I have a game. St. Mark's Day was an anomaly of that rule for me. It meant I indulged in a day off and the fun of being a fan! Supporting my school’s athletes was incredibly entertaining, especially since I got to do it with some of my closest friends.
As a Groton student, I enjoyed the sweet feeling of victory. Groton beat St. Mark's and won St. Mark's Day! With St. Mark's Day over, my mindset had to switch. Exam week was just around the corner. St. Mark's Day marks the end of the term’s classes. During exam week, we have only one responsibility: studying. We do not have classes, sports practices, rehearsals, or club meetings. Our studying for these tests has to start earlier than the Saturday before. Nevertheless, we also have time for studying with the lack of commitments during the week.
The smartest thing to do is to divide the week into blocks of studying for various subjects, but it can become a little stressful as the days go on. However, there are ways to relieve some of the stress. Ms. Poucel, one of Groton’s counselors, placed mandalas around the school for each form to color in. It was a little competition for the students to see which grade would finish their mandala first. Some of the girls in my form and I spent a couple hours coloring. It was relaxing to focus on something other than my class materials, and it gave me motivation for when I did return to studying. The best part is our form finished the mandala first! We received a table of snacks and candy as a prize!
This exam week felt less stressful than the weeks last year. As the years go on, I have adjusted better to my stresses. It felt like it went well and the week went past relatively quickly. It ended with students leaving campus for Thanksgiving break (and some much-needed R&R!)