People usually do not change unless an event is significant enough to have a real impact on their daily lifestyle. Eventually, as students journey through life, they will receive some sort of wake-up call that will change and shape their habits for their entire lives. People tend to miss the obvious; the conundrum here is how in-your-face the epiphany has to be before they actually see it.

Anything, but just not homework

Sleep may be enough as a motivation for any upperclassmen to finish his or her homework promptly; however, freshman Amanda Le has other priorities.

“Procrastinating makes me sleep later, so I wake up later, making me get a lot of tardies every week,” Le said. “My lack of sleep always leaves me grumpy for the rest of the day, and I’m usually too tired to get good grades because I’m always asleep in class.”

Le tries to sleep by 11 p.m., but she usually starts her homework at 10 p.m., and even though she usually finishes pretty quickly, she still does not go to bed until anywhere from 12 a.m. to 4 a. m.

Freshmen are known for having the least amount of stress, yet Le admits she still manages to avoid doing the little amount of homework she has.

“I put off my homework because I get distracted really easily,” Le said. “I never have the will power to and I am never in the mood to do homework until late at night.”

Until then, Le spends her time talking on the phone, browsing the Internet, cleaning her room, doing laundry or talking to her family. She does “really anything other than homework.”

When her parents took away her electronics a couple of months ago, Le resorted to sewing.

“I like to hem my clothes to make them fit better,” Le said. “It’s still better than doing my homework.”

Le admits she enjoys sleeping but just at a later time, and school interrupts her from sleeping more.

Major spill calls for major reform

Burrowed in her basement finishing a summer project for economics at 5:30 a.m. on the first Tuesday of the school year, senior Claire Couch vowed to “never ever, ever procrastinate again, no way, no how.”

Two months ago, Couch kept her nightmare in mind and got to work on her AP Physics lab notebook right after school. She requested a glass of orange juice from her younger brother in celebration of the anticipated six hours of sleep she was soon to receive; however, with a swift swipe letting it fly across the table, the glass tipped over and covered her entire notebook.

“Labs books are written in pen,” Couch said. “I wrote in gel pen, so my entire journal became page upon page of beautifully done ink blots. After a series of emotional breakdowns and panic attacks later, I restarted my lab journal. I didn’t sleep that night. Also, I somehow ended up sewing a badger costume for Halloween.”

This was her wake-up call. Before, Couch used to be full of rage from juggling all the standardized testing, college applications, extra curricular activities and “everything else under the sun,” and it took only four years for a reality check.

“Staying up late doing work is never fun, but pulling multiple all-nighters forces you to change,” Couch said.

Couch has altered her entire schedule as she spends more time planning her day, exiling herself to the library or giving up her phone and computer to focus.

“Of course spending the entire day till sundown working is no fun,” Couch said, “but it sure beats watching the sun come up the next morning.”

Finding balance

Along with several difficult AP classes her junior year, junior Tiffany Yung also attained the position of
Interact District 11 director. During the crucial adjustment time to difficult classes, Yung was often extremely busy being District 11 director. She had to plan community service events, retreats, and many other events, including Fall Leadership Conference, a rally that attracted several thousands of students each year.

“I was so busy with Interact, especially because it was my first year as [director] so I was constantly worried about what I was doing for Interact and how I was doing it,” Yung said.

Yung was able to cope with the amount of homework from her classes; however, homework and work for Interact kept her up until 1 a.m. almost every day, and Yung sacrificed her study hours for sleep.

“[Not studying] was not a good idea,” Yung said, “especially with APUSH and AP Chem.”

Occupied with the busy workload, Yung never checked Aeries and did not know of the grades that were below her usual standards. It was not until her counselor, Alinna Satake, tracked her down did Yung have a wake–up call.

“I had a pass from [Satake] one period, but I didn’t go because I didn’t want to miss class. During tutorial, she appeared out of nowhere and told me how worried she was about my sudden bad grades,” Yung said. “I was so shocked and scared, I almost cried.”

Yung was galvanized into studying for her classes and her grades steadily improved.

“I had to find a balance between my responsibilities to Interact and obligations to school,” Yung said.