With finals week approaching and with stress levels of students rising, Student Council attempted to make things a little more happy with “Happy Week”.  In efforts to spread positivity in such frantic times, Student Council carried out small acts of kindness amongst the students at York.

“When finals week comes around I feel like all my teachers just dump an overload of stress and work on me,” sophomore Lily Lopez said. “It really brings my mood down because I become way too concerned about my grades and cramming all the possible information I can for exams.”

Students become overwhelmed with receiving good grades that they often don’t have time to take a break and relax. That’s where Student Council came in with Happy Week in efforts to boost the moods of students even just a little bit`.

“We decided to hang posters with motivational sayings at the academic entrance,” said sophomore and Happy Week chair, James Hennessy. “We also added a small box full of candy at the academic entrance for students to take because candy always makes kids feel better.”

Small gestures can go a long way for some people, especially when the person receiving the gesture is going through a particularly difficult time. Finals can definitely seem like an exceptionally rough patch in the eyes of the determined high school student.

“I wish I wasn’t so worried and flustered around final exam time,” sophomore Nida Ahmed said. “I just feel like exams weigh me down and then I’m so busy with striving to earn an A in all of my classes that I forget to be happy.”

The goal of Happy Week is to give a little reminder for students to be happy. Make them stop and think, even if it is only for a moment, that they can succeed. Students should have more confidence in their abilities rather than more stress and worry that they will fail.

“Even if the student simply smiles at the posters we made, I think our efforts for happy week succeeded,” Hennessy said. “Sometimes, it’s the littlest things in someone’s day that may boost their mood.”