The stress of first semester finals week collided with flu season, leading to many student illnesses before, during, and after the Jan. 22-Jan. 24 three-day final exams time period.

Categorized as “moderately severe”, “the 2013 flu season was one of the worst in recent years” according to NY Daily News.  But, it’s not just the flu that has infected students.  According to HuffPost Healthy Living, “The cold and a nasty stomach virus are also going around.”

Symptoms differ, however, and the flu “usually involves fever, along with chills, headache and moderate-to-severe aches and tiredness” according to the HuffPost Healthy Living.  In contrast, a cold includes sore throat, nasal conjestion, and sneezing.

Around OHS, students have been dealing with both.  Orono Public Schools encourages students to “stay home if [they] are ill” for at least 24 hours “to reduce the spread of the virus within our student population”, and asks students to frequently wash hands, to keep hands away from the face, to use hand-sanitizer when hand-washing is not possible, and to avoid contact with those who are sick, according to the Flu Information provided on the district website.

While finals week entailed long hours of studying, and little to no sleep for some students in preparation for final exams, the time spent reviewing material learned throughout first semester proved to be a challenge to many students dealing with illnesses.

Because final exams are scheduled to be the final class period of each course for the semester, it can be difficult to arrange a time to make-up the final test.  Many students had to extend course work from semester one into the first week of semester two.

Junior Tori Palm had influenza for less than a week, and missed all three of the scheduled finals days.  While at home, Palm contacted teachers and notified them of her illness, arranging time to take the exams at a later date.

Because she was absent on her scheduled day to present her DECA project and receive her final grade in Marketing I, Palm and her DECA partner, junior Eloise Hrusovsky, had to present their project to Marketing teacher Keith Jurek on Friday, Jan. 25, a day off of school for students and a professional day for teachers.

For the next week, Palm took the three final exams, a unit test, and an in-class essay everyday after school and during her study hall.

Palm was grateful that her teacher’s were so accomodating to her illness.  The longer final exams were broken into two tests, so that they could be taken during her study hall and Spartan Hour.  Some of the teachers “stayed after [school] the next week longer than they normally would have” so that “I could finish the tests” said Palm.

With February almost over, the flu season is starting to wrap-up as well.  According to the NY Daily News, “flu activity has been ebbing for at least four weeks,” and “health officials say the worst of the flu season appears to be over.”

By getting rest, washing hands, and covering mouths and noses when coughing and sneezing, hopefully students will be able to resist illnesses and the final bout of the flu.

Margeaux Dittrich is the Arts & Entertainment Editor for The Spartan Speaks.