As the year comes to an end, students were wondering if final exams will be taken. Since COVID has changed the dynamics of the school year, students decided to put together a petition to not have final exams. Junior Fiona Dunlop is one of the students who helped start the petition for no finals and shared it with the student body. 

“[Junior] Molly Blanchard reached out to me with the idea for the petition,” Dunlop said. “She knew I had experience with creating petitions. I wanted to help her create this because, like most students, we are all worried about what an exam this year could do to their grade.”

After creating the petition, Dunlop brainstormed ways to share it to the student body.

“It was not just me who got the petition out to the public,” Dunlop said. “The original release of the petition was a combined effort between Blanchard, [junior] Emily Starr and myself. We spent time brainstorming ideas for the points on the petition. We all aimed to share the petition on our social media and in our group chats once it was finished. I want to make this part clear though, the success of the petition rested solely on the backs of the Fenton High students and everyone else who shared it.”

Dunlop created the petition on Mon., April 26 and received many signatures and recognition overnight. 

“By midnight, it had received 1,000 signatures,” Dunlop said. “That would not have been possible if it weren’t for all of the people who took the time to sign and share the petition. As of early May, the petition has 1,271 signatures and it’s been up for a few days. The petition received so many signatures that representatives from change.org (the site I created the petition on) have reached out to me about pitching the petition to local media.”

After receiving many signatures, Dunlop shared the petition with Principal Laura Lemke, Superintendent Dr. Adam Hartley and other members of the Fenton Area Public Schools Board hoping to make an impact on their decision for final exams. 

“I honestly do think the petition had a giant impact,” Dunlop said. “Not only did Dr.Hartley email me back, but I had a direct conversation with Lemke about how she was considering the petition. After the petition was shared with Lemke, we found out that a decision had been made, that FHS seniors only had to take their final exam if necessary to pass the class. I believe that our petition had an impact on the final decision made.” 

Since then, another statement has come out that underclassmen are only required to take exams if they’re failing or it’ll improve their grade. Dunlop’s petition has impressed administrators and helped get the students’ voices heard. This petition was a combined effort and a combined success of the entire FHS student body.