As the new year approaches us, students are getting back to their routine from around 2 years ago. Except now, they are older, in a new grade level, perhaps even in a new school. Freshmen and sophomores shifting from middle school to their never seen before high school. Current juniors and seniors became upperclassmen of their juniors in a blink of a second without having their high school experience. Everyone is trying to get back to their original pace, some are already used to their routine, while others are still adjusting. We are changing our bad habits to good ones to keep ourselves on track. Getting daily workloads from every class and being back to real-life environment is a current struggle for many students right now. Wondering how these high schoolers are managing their school and personal life, I decided to interview students of all grade levels and in different school activities.

Check out the Slideshow here:

Timeline of a Day

From the interviews, we see how different grade levels are dealing with school activities, time with homework, staying on track for work, and how they keep their mental health stable.  

In the Freshmen interviews, the students will use planners, have good people around them to keep them accountable and finish as much work as they can. They take around 1-2 hours to finish homework each night and sleep for 6-7 hours per night. Some Freshmen notice how they used to procrastinate and feel overwhelmed. They learned to keep up with everything and go at their own pace. It is important to remind themselves of their potential and self-worth, which is their way of maintaining good mental health. Others maintain good mental health by keeping themselves busy and positive, don’t stay behind, and surrounding themselves with the right kinds of people. 

Like Freshmen, Sophomores also have a similar way of keeping themselves on track. Keeping a checklist or an agenda helps them stay organized. They spend around 1-3 hours on homework daily and sleep 6-7 hours per night. Their way of maintaining good mental health is to make sure they make time to do things they like, taking breaks, doing homework for a certain number of hours, and reminding themselves that homework is important, but self-wellbeing is more important.  

 Compared to Freshmen and Sophomores, Juniors seem to have much more work and less sleep time. Juniors spend around 4-6 hours on homework per night, they say Calculus homework takes a lot of time. Juniors’ sleep time varies, some only 3-6 hours per night and some who prioritize sleep more than homework, 7-8 hours per night. Their way of maintaining good mental health is making time for themselves, journaling, listening to music, or simply sleeping it away, hoping for the best of luck for the next day.  

 Many seniors mentioned how they spent much more time on homework and getting less sleep time during their Junior year. They spend around 3-4 hours on homework per night and sleep on an average of 6-8 hours per night. Seniors maintain positive mental health by getting off social media, going on 1-day trips, self-reflecting on their actions, socializing with friends, finding hobbies, and steering away pessimistic outlooks/complaints/negative thoughts. 

Along with staying on track for school, a great number of students at school are also in extracurricular activities. They somehow have to maintain good grades but also participate in their activities. From the athletes I interviewed, every one of them contacts their teachers ahead of time, get the work they need the makeup on, and says, “Communication is key.”

The athletes make sure there is time to rest their bodies, surround themselves with good people, taking breaks, and doing what they love.  

Leadership students use a lot of their free time at school, helping with school activities. This requires a lot of time commitment, which makes a bigger wonder of how they keep their life together.  From the leadership students I interviewed, they ask their teachers ahead of time for the work they need to make up and have someone in that class that can help them out; once again, communication is key. They sleep from around 10:00 pm to midnight, an average of 6-7 hours per night.