As the first semester at Camas High School (CHS) comes to a close, students are mostly relieved and feel good about how the first semester went. 

“It went good; finals were better than I expected.” said sophomore Ella Brown.

On the other side of the spectrum, some students are making changes for next semester to make sure they are going to be more successful. 

“I’m studying a lot more and putting time and effort into my grades,” said sophomore Lauren Kusch.

Grades and studying are both sources of stress that students experience daily. Some have tangible goals they set for themselves to better their success.

“I really wanted to maintain a GPA of 3.9 and did that by studying hard but also giving myself time to relax so I didn’t burn out,” said sophomore Emma Gessler. 

Student burnout is a common thing, especially at the high school level, so it is important for students to do what they need to do in order to maximize their success. But, still, the overall feeling about the first semester was that it went well academically.

As well as feeling relieved, students are also still confused as to why there has been the implementation of new rules. These changes have been made clear by administrators that they are for legal and student safety reasons, but students, in typical high school fashion, are struggling to come to terms with the new rules. 

“I don’t understand how the rules are making an impact on student safety,” said senior Finnegan Wood. Although some rules seem pointless to students, they serve an important purpose. Because of the new conference period changes and the added hall monitors, CHS has a better idea of where students are.

Students also believe that some of the rules, whether they are old or new, are too harsh. The dress code remains to be a common complaint for most students. Although it is not new and is something the admin started to enforce this year, most students think it is too harsh. “The dress code needs to be less harsh, and the way some teachers are sexist towards the girls needs to change,” said sophomore Carrine Wehrli.

Although students at CHS may not fully understand why the new implementation of these rules is being put into place, administrators say they are enforcing them to make the school a better and safer place. Between the conference period changes and dress code, the admin seems to be doing the best they can. Overall, the general consensus from students at CHS was that the first semester went well, even with its hiccups.