As a senior at BSM enjoying the luxury of school post-AP exams, I’ve suddenly been hit with absurd amounts of final projects during my last days of high school. While I respect my teachers for ceasing the amount of content presented in class, I’m wondering if these final projects are any better than a good old test.

I am not a student who “slides.” But during my last two weeks of high school, thanks to the completion of AP exams, I admit: I’ve been sliding. But is it really the worst thing? After working my butt off for four years and never catching a break, I think I deserve this. I’ve been trying to really savor the last times walking through BSM as a student, but it’s incredibly hard to do that when you’re drowning in final projects.

Because my teachers understand that we’re pretty checked out from learning, instead of giving content or tests, many classes have diverted to assigning final projects usually revolving around art or individual creativity. Though the introduction of these projects are definitely coming from a good place in my teachers’ hearts, they are truly a pain in the neck. They all feel like art class on steroids.

My forensics final project is to construct a house with solely popsicle sticks. This house (only a dollhouse size, thankfully) is required to have two floors, a roof, three windows, stairs, furniture, AND a dead body – a fake one of course. Then, we’re burning the houses down. Don’t get me wrong, I love forensics. It’s a super fun and interesting class in an area that I’ve never had the chance to dive into before. But if I burn my finger on a hot glue gun one more time I might just walk out of the room. I never expected to become an architect in my science class for a final project, but here I am. I’d so much prefer learning about other cool forensics material than build a popsicle stick house.

In two of my other classes, I have vision board final projects due. Again, I know my teachers are trying to have me leave BSM on a fun, low-stakes, stress-free note, but I cannot make another trip to Michaels. I’ve always held myself to a high standard academically, so I know for a fact that I’ll be putting my blood, sweat, and tears into these boards to make them as aesthetically pleasing and glittery as possible. Curse me and my good morals.

It’s funny that I’m complaining about things that are supposed to be fun, but I really want to soak up my time as a Red Knight and enjoy it all. It’s pretty hard to enjoy everything when the thought of all the art you have to complete makes you want to bang your head into a wall. As much as I love my teachers and their thoughtfulness, I wish I wasn’t doing all these crazy final projects.