The state of Michigan has experienced intense winter weather this season, causing Pioneer to close multiple times in the months of January and February. The majority of these days landed right in the middle of a stressful period for many students known as finals week. The time off benefitted students in many different ways.

The snow days extended the amount of time that students of Pioneer could study and review the great deal of material they had learned over the first semester. Students were given two to three extra days, depending on the snow days, to review the material on all of their finals. Instead of cramming the night before, the extra days offered the opportunity for students to spread out their studying in order to be fully prepared for their exams. Students were able to go into every final well rested and more prepared than they would have been without any snow days.

In addition to the increase of time that students had to study, the snow days reduced stress for many students. Typically, the week of finals is extremely difficult and stressful, leading to lack of sleep and anxiety. However, the snow days gave students a chance to relax and decrease their level of stress over finals. Instead of waking up early four to five days in a row faced with the challenge of exams, students had many days in between to recover after an exam. This year, the snow days caused a more positive and less stressful finals experience.

Many students struggle with procrastination, especially during the week of finals. This habit can lead to lack of sleep and exhaustion during the morning of exams. However, the snow days gave students more time to study which ultimately allowed for them to be more well rested and prepared for their exams causing them to perform better. Studies have shown that eight to nine hours of sleep is needed for teenagers and an increased amount of sleep can help students perform better inside and outside of school. During a stressful time such as finals week, it is especially important to get more sleep to increase the likelihood of success on an exam.  Instead of many students using the night before their finals to study, they had multiple days in between to prepare. This meant, instead of studying the night before, students could come into their exams confident and well rested. Lack of exhaustion on the morning of finals because of increased sleep caused by the snow days was an incredible advantage for students of Pioneer.

During finals week, students are expected to take an exam that is worth a large part of their grade for nearly every class they take at Pioneer. With these finals, many issues such as lack of time, increase in stress, and lack of sleep arise. All of these issues are harmful to students and can result in decreased performance on their exams. However, the winter storms during finals allowed students to avoid these issues. The days off gave students more time to study and prepare for their finals. Also, students stressed less over their finals because of the time they had off. Finally, an increased opportunity to sleep the night before exams because of the snow days provided more rest to students.