Now that we are Upper Schoolers, we’ve found ourselves devoting every spare moment we have at school to work. Our favorite spot to work on campus is the Quiet Study Room, one of the only distraction-free spots on campus where students can focus and get assignments done.

However, recently, we have found it more and more difficult to secure one of the 15 highly-coveted seats, mainly because most seats are almost always occupied by Middle Schoolers, many of whom are often not doing schoolwork. We can’t even begin to tell you how frustrating it is to see classmates (ourselves included) sitting on the floor because all the seats are occupied by Middle Schoolers.

Middle School is a time to experiment with new classes, take new electives, adjust to Marlborough life and establish friendships that can follow you into high school. We understand that the culture at Marlborough – for better or worse – is one in which academic excellence is heavily emphasized. And we get it! As two current juniors, we can attest to the inordinate amount of homework assigned each night and the back-to-back assessments. We completely understand the constant stress of trying to balance school work, extracurriculars and social life. However, Middle Schoolers are not under the same amount of academic stress as Upper Schoolers, nor do they have the same amount of schoolwork on a daily basis. Looking back at our time in Middle School, we’re glad we chose to spend extra free time exploring activities we loved rather than spending our time in the quiet study room when we didn’t have work to complete.

Without a doubt, being an Upper Schooler is difficult and especially stressful during junior and senior years. Unfortunately, it’s inevitable. So, when we walk into the Quiet Study Room to cram for a last minute test and see that the only quiet place on campus is completely full, it makes it very hard to adequately squeeze in the final study session that can make or break our grade. It’s particularly frustrating when we rely on the quiet study room as a quiet place to work and find Middle Schoolers playing Dress to Impress, a popular video game that is definitely not homework. With our recent struggle to secure a spot in the Quiet Study Room, we’ve found ourselves spending more time during our free periods trying to find a quiet place to work, rather than doing our actual work.

All that being said, we’ve come up with a simple solution to this problem: Upper Schoolers should be prioritized in the Quiet Study Room.