WEB EXCLUSIVE Second-semester courses began today as students returned to campus with a week to finalize work from the first semester before the submission of final grades next Tuesday.

“[Submitting] grades after break gives teachers the opportunity to have a narrative face to face with the students,” academic counselor Betsy Pfeiffer said. “It allows teachers to have a little more time to be a bit more mindful with grades.”

While posting grades after classes resume allows students more time to meet with teachers, it can also cause some anxiety for people such as junior Emmy Sobol.

“It kind of stressed me out during break because I wanted to know where I stood,” Sobol said. “However, it also did relieve the stress of not having to check every five minutes to see if grades were posted.”

For other students such as senior Natalie Lunbeck, having an extra week can have advantages for particular classes.

“I think it’s really important to have that week in between because it will definitely help me in a few classes,” Lunbeck said. “It takes some of the anxiety off, even if I want to start the new semester fresh.”

The goal of the extra week is to allow time to ask questions or address concerns with teachers, according to Pfeiffer.

“It benefits the student because it allows them to have a little more context of what a [certain] grade means,” Pfeiffer said. “They don’t have to sit on a grade they might have questions about.”