Keeping things in balance at RVHS

Stress makes us appreciate the unstressed moments better. Although this might not seem true, this is the case. When the mounting stress gives way to more relaxing periods of time, the sense of contrast adds to the enjoyment of those moments.

Just as darkness has to be present in order for humans to compare it and the light and see their difference, there must be some opposite of happiness and joy in order to feel and enjoy these emotions better. This theme was prevalent at River Valley High School during October, which had its serious ups and downs.

October started with an unwelcome reminder that midterms has arrived. It seemed as if the school had just begun and the midterms were already here. Students prepared to ace the tests, or at least get decent grades, while trying to keep their sanity and not lose themselves in stress and test anxiety.

After the first week spent studying, or sometimes cramming, students gave all they had on the last tests for their semester transcript grades and looked forward to the following weeks.

Right after midterms, homecoming week arrived. Each day of the week centered around a theme, and students dressed up according to that theme. Every class had vast amount of people who showed their spirit by dressing up, but the seniors prevailed and seemed to have the most turnout because this is their last year.

"I liked the Nerd Day — it was cute and fun," said Shivani Sandhir, a senior, when asked about her favorite theme.

Homecoming provided much-needed relief from the pressures of the previous weeks. Harman Grewal, a senior, said, "I loved how homecoming week was right after midterms — it was a great stress reliever." To end homecoming week, students had the chance to hang out and enjoy time with friends at the dance.

The week after homecoming, students once again had a reprieve, which came in the form of cultural day on Friday before lunch. Clubs picked different countries or cultures to represent and provided food and delicacies that the students could buy and enjoy.

Some of the cultures or countries represented this year included Hawaii, Canada, Iceland, Mexico and India, among others. Along with the food, students could also enjoy music from different cultures. After looking at the crowd and the lines that formed around where food was served, I can conclude that cultural day was a huge success.

Other students agree. Navdeep Dhindsa, a freshman, said, "I enjoyed the cultural day because all cultures were different and interesting." This is her first year at RVHS and her first time at cultural day.

Although the weeks following midterms included different enjoyable events for the students, this does not mean that it was all fun and games. School still went on, with classes and homework almost every day. But the fun events helped to lessen and balance out students' worry and stress from their classes.

Sukhpreet Kaur is a senior at River Valley High School. Her column appears every six weeks in Education.