High school is a time of transition; teens move from carefree childhood to the trials of adulthood. With this transition comes great responsibility that places a lot of pressure on students.

In a recent survey of 50 randomly chosen students at West, 74% of the participants said they found it hard to balance school, homework, sports, a job and extracurricular activities.

“It is important for me to do well in all aspects of school and to be responsible in getting my work done to make sure that I can get into a good college, even if sometimes it can be stressful,” said sophomore Olivia Fish.  

The percentage increased to 87% for seniors when 12 out of the 15 seniors that were surveyed said that they struggle balancing school and extracurricular activities. All 15 seniors also said that they are currently enrolled in AP classes, placing even more pressure on them to do well to earn potential college credit for their classes.

“I have soccer after school and I work on weekends and Thursdays and Fridays, so it is hard for me to do my homework after that,” said senior Ashley Oakes.

With college quickly approaching, seniors have more pressure placed on them; although, the pressure is spreading to freshmen as well. Eight out of the twelve freshmen surveyed said that they were in honors classes, which provides a more academically challenging curriculum.

Freshman Lauch Murphy, an avid varsity soccer player at West, mentioned that he spends less time practicing soccer than he does on school, although soccer plays a big role in his life.

“Even though soccer is a passion of mine, I have to spend more time with education than with soccer; because no matter how good you are at soccer, you won’t make it anywhere without the grades,” said Lauch.

Grades were frequently mentioned as an important part of school because they will eventually determine their class rank and college acceptance.  

“It’s hard because there’s only so many hours in a day to worry about, and there’s a lot to keep up with, especially with school, and trying to keep up with grades, and trying to just keep everything together and organized so that you’re not cramming everything in,” said sophomore Shelby Everhart.

Based on the results of the survey, the average time students wake up for school is between 6-6:30 in the morning. Students then complete a seven hour school day, attend work and finish homework. On top of all this, some students have to pull all-nighters.

“I have softball after school every single day, and then I go to work, and then I have homework after work and I basically just don’t sleep” said senior Kaitlyn Rhea.