Ethan’s Insights: 2nd Quarter Insanity


Ethan Hoppe-Cruz

I know it is only the beginning of second quarter but if you are like me, you can already feel the madness of second quarter beginning to take over.

Everyone has a quarter, mine is second quarter. What I mean by this is that second quarter is the worst quarter in the history of the modern school schedule.  

I think that I have found why myself and some feel so horribly about second quarter.

When you are excused to fall break you feel as though summer has just started again being that it was the last major break, yet this is a fantasy.

And if you don’t mind this, then you will eventually get the seasonal depression of waiting in between holidays . . . I know I do.

When you have second quarter there are so many different interruptions, Halloween, Thanksgiving and the Winter holidays. The anticipation of all of these celebrations creates an environment of over-excitement and distraction.

You’d think the candy and turkey overload is enough, but the excitement of Christmas and Hanukkah makes everything a blur.

Family flies down from the mainland and different places and everyone has a good reason to stay up past 10:00 p.m. and put off homework for some time. Parent-teacher conferences make regular school days, half-days. November also brings a lot of three day weekends and you become accustomed to these long weekends, so when there are only two-day breaks, it is an automatic disappointment.

Honestly, the second quarter holidays are awesome or at least they would be if you didn’t still have school.

Each Sunday drags by and the sun shines, it’s a beautiful day, until . . . “Oh my goodness! I forgot to do homework!” Everyone loves the feeling of no consequences until the consequences catch up.

Homework piles up and eventually it will find you, when you least expect it.

Fall break makes for a good time for teachers to assign projects. You are supposed to work on your project(s) throughout the break, although, we all know that it doesn’t happen.

You find yourself starting to put off your assignments because you THINK you have more time than you actually did, you soon start to find yourself in this position—

“Oh it’s only November, I still have a good month to start the draft and don’t you want me to help with the mashed potatoes?”


Yes, this is the story of second quarter procrastination and distractions that dictate the time that could be used to spend on your homework.

There is a problem either way. Whether it’s not spending time with your family on the holidays or getting bad grades. Both are equally (depending on your priorities) bad.

Now I am not saying that second quarter is setting you up to fail because only you will be responsible if your homework comes in late or incomplete. I have made a strategy that would help get you through the madness that uses all available resources.

It all starts after Hallow’s eve; use the sugar overload to your advantage for late night homework madness. This way you get rid of your candy and at the same time, you get rid of your homework.

This strategy will power you through a good amount of November (depending on your candy stock).

November is a tough one being that there is quite a bit of family time. However, if you use your parent-teacher conferences to your advantage then there are half-days where you can spend some time on your homework.

December is a particularly hard one being that the Christmas specials are entertaining and there are so many festivities. This is the project month.

If you were assigned any projects prior to December you will want to start immediately because most are probably due the same month as most of your mini-projects are assigned and due.

Although it is sad, but true Winter break is the deadline for most projects so leading up to that break you must do as much as possible until everything is due and this is pretty much the best advice I can give you on December other than don’t get distracted.

And so as I try to get back to meeting all of my deadlines, I hear Green Day’s “Wake Me Up When September Ends” only with the words, “Wake Me Up When Second Quarter Ends.”