170 days that are filled with fun, stress, excitement, importance, and everything in between. This describes a school year at NUHS. With the current school year winding down students are ready to open new doors. Opening new doors means a new start for students. Many of these new starts are very anticipated. Seniors are looking forward to graduating, juniors are excited to become seniors, and 8th graders are making the move to the high school. Next year’s school calendar gives students a sneak peak into their new start.

There are a few things to note on next year’s school calendar. Similar to this past year, some grades will be starting school one day earlier than other grades. First, fifth, and ninth graders will have their first day of school on September 4th. The school district has decided to do this as a way to ease the first, fifth, and ninth graders into the school year. Mrs. Frank explained that “first, fifth, and ninth grade are transition periods in students lives because they are going to be in a new setting.” She said that having these students in school a day early “gives students and staff time to go over the school rules in more depth, while allowing some breathing room.” All other grades will begin school on September 5th. For those students who like to be prepared, there will be open houses for all grades on August 28th and August 29th.

As students maintain busy lives outside of school, it is hard not to look forward to breaks. Next year, winter break starts on Monday, December 24th and goes until Tuesday, January 1st. That is a total of seven school days off. Although this break has stayed about the same for many years, some other breaks throughout the year are a little different. Next year there will not be a week-long spring break like there was this year. Instead, students will get off of school from Thursday, February 14th to Monday, February 18th. This is not great news for some students and their families, as it leaves only five days for a vacation. Since a student can only miss seven days of school in a semester, many students and their families took advantage of the week-long spring break this year to spend time with one another on planned family vacations. “For spring break this year my family went to Mexico. It was nice to have time to vacation without worrying about missing school and getting behind. It is a little disappointing not to have a long spring break next year,” junior Abbey Lee said. Students will have another break exactly like this around Easter time, Thursday, April 18th to Monday, April 22nd.

Some other events that many students look forward to include prom, graduation day, and the last day of school. Next year prom will be held around the same date as this year. It will be on Saturday, April 27th. Prom is generally on this weekend for scheduling reasons. Some students, including Maddy Portner, think prom might be better if it were to be scheduled in May. “I think prom is more fun when the weather is nice, and scheduling prom in May would help. Early spring in Minnesota can be a little unpredictable,” she explained. Friday, May 24th will be an exciting and bittersweet day for the class of 2019 as they graduate and close a chapter in their lives. This means that the last day of classes for the class of 2019 will be on Thursday, May 23rd. The last day of classes for the rest of the school district will be on Friday, May 31st. That is about 1,115 hours spent in school!