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The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder

The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder

The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder

For the past three years, Parkway has administered high school finals after winter break, a practice that proves to be detrimental to the success as well as the mental health of students. With finals after break appearing to do more harm than good, the question of what changes can be made arises time and time again. “The pressure for finals is difficult, and to have that [pressure for] a few weeks because you're on [a] break can make you generally sad. It's a bummer in general. I wish [finals] were before break, so we [could] have a break to sleep, celebrate and not study. Everyone I've talked to about it is like 'yeah, finals sucks,' and I wish that wasn't a thing,” junior Meadow Kostial said.

Post-break panic

The problem Beginning in the 2020-21 school year, a new schedule — pushing back the academic year and shifting finals to after winter break — was adopted district-wide. From students to teachers,...

Airplanes tend to delay or cancel flights due to freezing temperatures, snow, ice or thunderstorms. A severe snowstorm caused flight shortages on Dec. 21-26, impacting travelers like English ASC teacher Kristen Witt. “It was out of [everyone’s] control how the weather would turn out. They were doing the best they could [do], and the agent at the gate did a great job of keeping everybody informed about what was going on and kept us calm,” Witt said.

Taking on the Storm

Esta Kamau, Staff Writer January 27, 2023

Passengers pull hefty suitcases behind them, rushing to their terminals at the St. Louis Lambert International Airport. Suddenly, the intercom rings and announces unfortunate news of canceled flights,...

Junior Zachary Schade sits in front of his family christmas tree while studying for finals. Schade thought that having finals after winter break caused unnecessary stress which makes it harder to enjoy the holidays. “I think finals after break forces students to study instead of enjoying what should be time with their family [away] from school,” Schade said. “It places an unpleasant cloud over the holiday experience and doesn’t allow a break before the start of a new semester.”

Final-ly Winter Break

Parkway Editorial Board December 31, 2021

The doors of the school swing open and students pour out, sprinting to their respective cars and overjoyed about the beginning of break. After escaping the chaos of the parking lot, you finally pull into...

With new shows being uploaded to Netflix every month, chances are you will never run out of shows to binge!

QUIZ: Which Netflix show should you binge during winter break?

Zoe DeYoung, Staff Writer December 18, 2019

(function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(d.getElementById(id))return;js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src='https://embed.playbuzz.com/sdk.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}(document,'script','playbuzz-sdk'));

"Knives Out," starring Ana de Armas and Daniel Craig, was released Nov. 27.

These movies are ‘snow’ joke

Sabrina Bohn, Managing Editor-in-Chief December 16, 2019

As the temperatures drop, people may think that it’s the holiday season or finals season, but really, it’s Oscars season. The end of the year brings tons of anticipated films to local theaters, making...

Parkway Food Pantry Social Worker Jess Buettner delivers Thanksgiving items to families in need Nov.19. Approximately eight schools in the Parkway District rallied around to help with this event. “All the things that you think of in your normal thanksgiving dinner we include so that it’s a little less that families have to worry about,” Buettner said.

Ending hunger one holiday at a time

Madi Foppe, Convergence Journalism Writer November 26, 2019

The Parkway Food Pantry hosted a “Stuff the Turkey” event Nov. 19 to create Thanksgiving bags for students and families in need. “It's an attempt by the Parkway School District food pantry to...

Staring into the distance, Vaishali Shah admires the Three Towers.

Students and teachers travel out of country during winter break

Gabby Leon, Staff Writer January 20, 2017
“We sat on the beach. We weren’t going there to experience the culture since it was a short trip, and we were exhausted. We got up early, ate breakfast and sat and walked on the beach. No significant others, no children, just three teachers,” Collins said.
At the Veiled Prophet Ball seniors Grace Colbert, Caroline Gibbs, Maret Welby and Allie Hornbarger get ready in a hotel room before the ceremony began.

Short Winter Break causes upset among students

Emily Wind, Staff Writer January 19, 2016
Although Winter Break is a thing of the past, repercussions of the short break are still in effect.
"Break could have been longer," senior Sarah O'Beirne said after returning to school.

Students find winter break unexciting, survey shows

Hannah Hoffmann, News Editor January 10, 2016
With winter break now little more than a distant memory (oh, the toll two weeks back in school has had on us all), if you take the time to ask anyone how their break went, expect no more than a quick “eh, it was average."
Junior Tyler Hannegan and Senior Ally Guccione sit on a couch and enjoy the popular holiday drink, peppermint hot chocolate.

The do’s and do not’s of winter break

Dani Fischer, Staff Writer December 23, 2015

Finals are over. A weight has been lifted off your back, the air smells fresher and the whole world is brighter. There’s absolutely no homework and you have nothing left to do. So, what do you do? The...

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