From pinning pictures on Pinterest to writing a list on paper, New Year’s resolutions are made.  Resolutions are something that can bring motivation and something to look forward to in the future for many people. While resolutions are typically focused on keeping a bedroom clean, drinking more water or becoming more active, what if students directed their resolutions into school?

Now while the non-school related resolutions can be very beneficial, focusing on school specific goals could bring a positive outcome to students’ academics. When speaking to a teacher and a variety of students at Air Academy High School we found a consensus that when making goals students perform better academically. Speaking to Science teacher, Cyndi Hatcher, she gave us an insight on her views of goal setting and the patterns she sees in students during the school year. 

“At the beginning of a semester there is more of a push where everyone is doing very well, then usually towards the middle of the semester everyone bagans to start getting on the struggle bus. Everyone begins to taper off and then there is usually another push towards the end of the semester,” Hatcher explained.

Students typically have more energy and motivation towards the beginning of the semester because they want to perform well academically. However, towards the middle everyone loses motivation. If students make goals toward the beginning of the semester and begin to create habits, it may cause less fall off in the middle of the semester because they will already be in the routine of making those habits happen. 

“I don’t necessarily set new year’s resolutions, but I do set goals for myself every year. All teachers set goals for themselves that relate to our evaluations,” Hatcher stated.

While Hatcher creates goals to better her students and teaching, they do not directly relate to the New Year, but to the year as a whole. Talking with freshman Ella Illsley, she explained her views on New Year’s resolutions.

“I do New Year’s resolutions more as a joke. When doing resolutions they typically last for a day if I do try them and they are applied to my real life instead of school,” Illsley expressed.

While resolutions may now be used for some they could be used for others.

“I find myself working harder at the beginning of the semester but begin to trail off towards the end of the year,” Illsley stated.

Illsley’s answer was very similar to the pattern Hatcher described in her previous statement about the patterns she noticed in her students. When speaking to sophomore, Hannah Brigeman, she explained the way she has implied resolution in her life.

“I definitely put them more towards sport or my daily life if I do them, however I;m not usually 100% consistent when it comes to doing them. It’s more of something I think about doing but end up not having the time,” Bridgeman stated.

With all of this in mind, the general consensus of New Year’s resolutions was that not many students and teachers actually do them. However, many students and teachers create goals for themselves for the year as a whole. Students seem to be a little inconsistent when it comes to goals due to the factors of loss of motivation. The pattern that has been recognized was that many students are stronger towards the beginning of the year, but begin to trickle off in the middle of the semester.

 The act of goal setting whether it is towards the beginning of a new year or in the middle of the summer is a great habit to make and will help improve daily life and school life for the better!