By: Shyanne Gaston

Imagine this scenario: During the offseason you are working diligently for eight months to be on the varsity team. You put in all your time and effort into meeting this goal. The sports season comes around and you’re ready to show the coaches how good of a player you are. You made the team. Coaches even say that you’re the best player on the team, but you can’t play varsity. They say only seniors can play varsity. You’ve worked hard, coaches saw major improvement, yet the only deterrent is your age. This scenario is equivalent to Hershey High School’s final exemption policy.

At Hershey High School the end of the year final exams count for 1/9th of a student’s grade. All students take these exams except for hardworking seniors. The seniors are given an opportunity to be rewarded if they have put in a year of good academic work. If a senior has achieved an average grade of 93% from all four marking periods and had no single marking period grade below a 90% that students can choose to not partake in that class’ final exam. This policy leaves out all of the underclassmen whose grades meet this criteria.

All achieving HHS students should be given the final exam exemption opportunity. If students have worked hard they should receive a reward, no matter what grade they may be in. Underclassmen will be more intrigued to excel in everyday work knowing they will be working towards something more than just a good GPA. It is unfair for the underclassmen who work just as hard as seniors for just as many months. Some underclassmen share the same classes as seniors but cannot opt out of a final exam. The incentive for seniors to be exempt from finals should be the same incentive for all grades.

Woodlands High School in Texas has a criteria that satisfies all students. If a student has a 90-100 percent and no more than three absences or an 85-89 percent and no more than 2 absences, the student can choose to be excused from the final or finals that they meet the criteria for. If this were also the case for Hershey High School students, all hard working students would know their hard work paid off. Not only would school-wide final exemption reward all students, but it would also be a big motivation. With grade requirements, students would be motivated to study harder and longer. Students would be more motivated to come to school as well. They will want to be in school trying harder and participating, knowing if they really try they will be rewarded at the end of the year.

Everyone has the opportunity to work hard and achieve good grades, but not everyone has the opportunity to be rewarded. Equal final exemption criteria would only improve students’ work and participation in class. Comparing how another school allows final exemptions for all students, Hershey should do the same. Teachers and administration need to recognize all hard working students, not just the seniors. If you do not want to take finals, advocate for yourself and underclassmen peers to the administration to get your voice heard.