By Elena Wu-Yan and Brynne Fahey
The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and the flowers are blooming on the front lawn of Princeton High School. Well, not quite. But with an extra hour of sunlight and the first day of spring right around the corner, PHS students are no doubt beginning to feel that springtime buzz.
Whether it’s prom drama, the annual musical, AP testing, or just the warm weather, there is a sense of anticipation in the air this time of year. Here are the best and worst aspects of PHS at springtime:
Best
1. If there’s one thing everyone looks forward to, it’s seeing that last chunk of snow melt away as the season brings warmer weather. When the sun pops out, students can escape the classroom at break, eating lunch on the front lawn. Even better, gym classes head outside to play a student favorite: ultimate frisbee.
2. Spring Break is on the horizon. The PHS softball and boys’ lacrosse teams will head to the ESPN Wide World of Sports in Disney World for training. Hopefully, break will be a refresher for the whole school before a busy spring season.
3. The sooner AP tests arrive, the sooner they’ll be over. Better yet, teachers tend to ease up after the AP. Only two more months until the homework subsides in our hardest classes. Hang on!
4. Prom! Hype over the annual dance will explode around early May, when adorable “promposals” happen daily and blushing girls clutching bouquets of flowers are not an uncommon sight. This year, the dance is masquerade-themed.
5. For many seniors, the unbearable wait will soon be over. After hours of work on applications, priceless effort spent on grades, achievements, and extracurriculars throughout high school, and five tense months of waiting, college decisions from many schools will arrive in April. Sigh of relief.
6. Spectacle Theater’s annual musical is coming up. This year, students will perform a Disney classic: “Beauty and the Beast.”
7. Spring means a slew of school events, celebrations and productions. Mr. PHS (a male pageant!), the 101: Talent Show, AsianFest, the Powderpuff football tournament, the Princeton 5K, student-directed plays, Spring Fling, Echo fashion show, and perhaps best of all, Rita’s Free Ice Day!
8. Spring is just one step closer to a high school student’s favorite season: summer! We will be counting down the days until a true break from the monotony of high school life comes at last.
Worst
1. There can only be so many games of ultimate frisbee at once. Gym classes will also take advantage of the sun to train for the timed mile, the most dreaded element of the Presidential Fitness Test.
2. Summer break is quickly approaching, which that means students are frantically figuring out what to do. What if we don’t get the internship? What if we can’t find a job? What do colleges want to see us do over the summer?
3. There’s testing, testing and more testing. Along with APs in mid-May, many students will be taking the SATs and SAT subject tests. By the end of this, our No. 2 pencils will be down to nubs.
4. Prom! The dance comes with a fair share of stress, or as students sometimes call it, Promadrama. Girls “claim” dresses so that nobody shows up matching, and everyone stresses over finding a date.
5. Alongside those thick envelopes containing college acceptance news, rejection letters will undoubtedly arrive. Dreams will be crushed, giving way to the reality of the competition of the college admission process.
6. By spring, those New Year’s resolutions are long gone. We’ll be healthier, friendlier, and more productive in 2014. Promise.
7. A change in season makes the school’s thermostat go crazy. Some rooms will feel like saunas, but others will be frigid. Students will survive with strategically packed layers of clothing.
8. Is school in June even legal? Once its acceptable to wear shorts, students are antsy for the final bell to ring each day. When classrooms get too humid, the minds of students and teachers alike jump forward a few weeks to summer vacation.
Elena Wu-Yan is a sophomore and Brynne Fahey is a senior at Princeton High School.

