There were many things that I looked forward to when I got to high school. I couldn’t wait to meet new people, join sports and take all of the new classes. But I quickly realized that being a student in high school isn’t easy, but the hardest challenge is being a student athlete. As a multi-sport athlete I also experience the stress of the workload and pressure to do your best in school and your sports. The realization that you have to be at practice at 6 a.m. and still have a whole essay to write.  Or the day you have to stay after school until 9 p.m. because you have a swim meet and you won’t have time to finish that assignment that is due at 8 am.

Students get so much homework from their classes and getting it done on time is difficult, especially for students who participate in any extracurricular activities before or after school. Many times students who participate in these extracurricular activities are up late at night to try and get their work done on time. Students often have to drink highly caffeinated energy drinks to stay up to finish their homework.

As a member of the cross country team, swim team and track team, I can say that it can be very difficult to balance school and sports. Between the amount of work and the practices in the mornings, afternoons, and weekends, getting enough sleep is hard and can lead me to get very exhausted both physically and mentally during the day. Students are drinking energy drinks caffeine to stay awake so they can finish their homework on time.

I don’t think we should get rid of homework but simply lessen the workload. High school is an important part of life and we can’t get the proper experience if we are constantly doing homework or trying to find time to sleep. Let us enjoy the best four years of our childhood.