From canine dietary accidents to household internet malfunctions, students have been coming up with methods to avoid homework for years. So, when Pinewood announces its annual no homework days, the reaction from the student body is expected to be overwhelming joy and relief. However, this year’s no homework days yielded differing opinions from the Pinewood community.

   One common misconception about the no homework days is that it’s a no homework week. According to Dean of Students Jennifer Bates, it’s actually meant to be a few days that span over the weekend, designed to encourage students to spend the weekend enjoying time with their friends and family.

   For seniors like Gabby Yang, the no homework days also helped free up her schedule for the one thing all seniors have on their minds: college applications.

   “I’m applying as an art major, so I have almost double the amount of work,” Yang said. “The no homework days gave me time to focus entirely on that instead of having to juggle homework at the same time.”

   Other students like junior Addison Parenti found the no homework days to be helpful in reducing overall academic stress, especially because she participated in the fall play.

   “In the past, I’d always gotten home from rehearsal and had to do homework and homework and homework,” Parenti said. “It was really nice to have no homework and just be able to come home and go to bed.”

   While she appreciates the concept of no homework week, Parenti thinks its timing could use some work.

   “It should not have been during all those four-day weeks,” Parenti said. “It just meant that all the homework and tests happened at the same time.”

   Sophomore Zachary Gill, who also had a role in the play, agreed with Parenti’s criticisms of the timing.

   “The no homework week didn’t actually line up with the play’s tech week,” Gill said.

   Despite these flaws, Yang thinks that the no homework days this year were the most helpful so far.

   “I think the more and more no homework days we have, the better they get because teachers are more experienced and know what to assign,” Yang said.

   Pinewood also plans to continue improving the no homework days for future years. Instead of postponing deadlines and causing assignments to pile up after the no homework days, Bates wants to make it more balanced.

   “Putting off the stress is not helpful,” Bates said.