“We have school on Saturday.”

Probably the five words a student never wants to hear, this nightmare has become a reality for those attending Pentucket Regional High School.

Due to an excess amount of snow days this winter, combined with the overwhelming desire to keep April Vacation intact, the solution that was decided upon was to make up several days, including going to school on Good Friday, as well as have a school-wide online participation day.

While it is not a full day of classes, the freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors of Pentucket will be logging on to complete an online assignment on Saturday, March 21st. Different for each grade, the assignment ranges from deciding goals and planning for one’s future to seeing the results of one’s previous choices and applying them to the next step of life – what comes after high school.

Despite it being arguably much more personal and easier than a regular school day, many students are showing varying degrees of negativity toward the concept of school on a weekend, and most are more upset about the nature and timing of the activity, rather than it’s difficulty.

Sophomore and accomplished student Sami Jones shows her distaste for the concept, saying: “This is not worth a day of our lives. I understand that the missed days need to be made up, but this really has nothing to do with anything and won’t help me get into college. It isn’t even for a class…or graded!”

Sharing the same attitude toward the notion, though for a very different reason is Cammi Balentine, junior, stating: “What a waste of time. Now I have to actually wake up on Saturday and instead of going to work or hanging out with my friends, I have to sit at my computer. School always taught us to stay true to our commitments. I have to call out of work to do this, what does that teach us?”

“I think I speak for the entire senior class when I say that this is not going to help us in any way, shape, or form. Most of us are already into college, and those not attending need this even less. I understand we need to make up the days…but on a Saturday? The only reason I’m doing it is because it counts as an unexcused absence if you don’t.”, says senior Shannon Fitzgerald.

Overall, there is widespread negativity toward this online day of torture, for a variety of reasons. From underclassmen to upperclassmen, none seem to see the benefit in the online assignments and despite the threat of branding those who skip with an unexcused absence, there will certainly be record low attendance.