Everyone knows, and patiently waits for, the year when they can proudly choose between senior release or a late start. As everyone else in the grade wakes up earlier than the sun, the seniors get to sleep in peacefully, or wake up with the rest of the student body but leave before 4th period, but Erika Lawson and Jacey Gibbs want otherwise. 

They claim that the school should just push back into the later hours and everyone should have the same luxury as the seniors do. 

I agree with this statement.

First off, a bunch of students have jobs that go into late into the night and it’s sometimes hard to get out of bed and do well in school if they are constantly getting less than nine hours of sleep on a daily basis. It can also be hard to focus if they are constantly dozing off during the lectures. 

Second, multiple students are barely getting enough sleep due to extracurricular classes and out of school activities. Some students don’t get home until 11;00 and that isn’t even including the necessary actions needed to properly get ready for bed and school in the morning.

Lastly, some people come to the school malnourished due to the extracurriculars that are located in the morning. Some students are lacking the necessary nutrition needed to get through the day and even just get through practice. This, and a lack of sleep, can lead to injuries, physical and sometimes physiological.

Avery, a sophomore, states that she works late nights sometimes, and it’s hard getting up at 5:00 in the morning to go to school and maintain a good mindset that is well-rested and ready to learn. Casey, a sophomore, states that her volleyball practice for the club ends at 10:00 and she lives an hour away, which leads her to go to bed at around midnight or later. Also, it takes 10-20 minutes to fall asleep for an average person, so if we’re tucking ourselves into bed at around 12:00-12:30 then we’re not going to bed at around 12:45-1:00. Also Makayla said that she has drill practice at 6:00 and no restaurants open earlier which leads to a lack of nutrition that she needs to get through practice and the day. She also can’t make breakfast beforehand due to the time crunch that she has every single morning. If she even decides to make breakfast, she can put herself at risk of being late for practice, which is never a good look on anyone. Also, scientists say sleep deficiency is linked to many chronic health problems, including heart disease, kidney disease, strokes, and obesity. It could also lead to dementia and many other health conditions that no one ever wants to go through.

Some people might say that if we start super late then we get out later and all the athletes that have to attend after-school practices won’t be going home until 6:00 or even later. 

Yea but, if we just push school back an hour then we would get out at around 3:00-3:30ish instead of 2:52.

A good solution to make everyone happy is to push back school an hour later, that way seniors can still have the luxury of sleeping in, and all students and teachers can get the nine hours of sleep that they deserve. I think if school started around 8:00-8:30, then everyone would wake up between 6:00-7:00 or maybe sleep in till 8:00. If that happens, then all students would be getting an extra hour or so of sleep. This late start also gives kids the freedom or opportunity to get up earlier than school to do more stuff in the morning. Some students might wanna work out before school, go on a run, or even complete homework, with the hour push back those students can do all of that and still wake up at a reasonable time. This also gives the teachers time to complete grading assignments, and they don’t have to worry about staying up till midnight to get everything completed. They could sleep peacefully, knowing that they have some time in the morning to complete everything necessary and even mentally prepare themselves for the children that they are going to be surrounded by for eight hours. Overall, I think pushing the time back would help not only the students but the teachers as well who are probably dealing with the same sleep problems as the kids.