Courtesy of Madin Kaul

Multiple challenges, such as construction, arise for students who live farther away.

For hundreds of students who live in the neighborhoods near the school, it’s easy enough to wake up around 8 and still make it to the first class of the day.

For several other students, however, the opposite is true. They live many miles away and must wake up much earlier and even be on the road by 7 or 7:30 to make the 8:30 bell. After-school activities and friendships are also complicated by how far away they live.

One hour: A teacher’s kid who commutes from Gilroy

As someone who has attended schools in the Saratoga districts since Foothill Elementary, it has not been easy for senior Elizabeth Lockhart to travel to school every day for her education. Since her mom Eveonne Lockhart is a leadership and core teacher at Redwood Middle School, Elizabeth has been able to attend schools in the district even though she lives one hour away in Gilroy.

Elizabeth begins her day at 5 a.m. and leaves the house by 6 a.m. for the drive. Since her mom needs to prepare for her class before school starts at 8:15 a.m., Elizabeth arrives around 7 a.m. and often goes out with her boyfriend to get coffee before the start of school.

Outside of school, Elizabeth also participates in multiple extracurriculars. In freshman and sophomore year, she was on the cheer team, which meant all of her Saturdays were taken up by competitions. She remembers how she got home around 9:30 p.m. every school night and felt tired.

“I did find cheer challenging to schedule, but it also pushed me to have good time management,” Elizabeth said. 

In addition, since she is part of the Media Arts Program, she sometimes spends parts of her weekends on campus working on group projects. Additionally, her Friday nights are filled up with online acting classes giving her a packed schedule.

When in the car together, Elizabeth and her mom spend hours talking and listening to music together. While it’s a long drive, she usually arrives home between 4 and 5 p.m.

Asked whether all of these sacrifices are worth it, Elizabeth said she appreciates the friends she has made over the years and the opportunity to go to SHS because of the school’s academic rigor and high quality. However, she often finds herself declining invitations to spend time with friends in Saratoga because of how far away she lives.

“It’s definitely hard to explain to people why I can’t hang out with them because of how long it actually takes to get from here and back, which is two hours,” Elizabeth said. “I’ve never lived close by, so not seeing people I know at places like the grocery store is an odd feeling, but I kind of like it because it gives me a break from the SHS pressure.”

30 minutes: Siblings come to school from Belmont

Science teacher Kristen Thomson’s two kids, Isla and Spencer, both attend the school. Previously attending Foothill Elementary and Redwood Middle, the siblings had to wake up as early as 5 a.m. to get to preschool on time.

Now, both in high school, Isla, a sophomore, Spencer, a senior, and their mom leave the house around 7:30 a.m. daily, taking Highway 280 in order to get to school by 8:10-8:15 a.m. While Thomson sets up for her class, Isla and Spencer help if needed or relax in her classroom before their busy day starts.

In the fall, Spencer took part in marching band. He plays the euphonium and baritone while also being a section leader, ending his practices at either 4:30 p.m. — the peak traffic time — or late at night at 9 p.m. Isla is a part of the cheer team and dances at West Valley Dance Company, which runs year-round for four days a week and finishes around 8-9:30 p.m. every night. While Isla is at dance, her mom either goes back to school to get work done or catches up with other parents at the studio. Because of the siblings’ busy schedules, they are rarely both home earlier than 9:30 p.m. 

“I try to be as efficient as possible when I do my homework, since it takes me at least half an hour longer than everyone else to get home,” Spencer said. “At this point, I’m used to regularly being tired, but it definitely is a pain.”

With their dad working as a science teacher at West Valley College and Thomson coaching swimming during the spring, Isla and Spencer schedule their days based on what each family member has planned. Sometimes, Spencer drives Isla, while other days their parents do the driving for the day — they often split into groups and return at different times.

To accommodate each other’s schedules, Isla and Spencer often spend time after school in their mom’s classroom, catching up on homework. With all the effort put into aligning their schedules, Isla appreciates how much time she gets to spend with her mom.

“The time spent in the car gives my mom and I a lot of time to talk, especially when it’s dark and I can’t do homework,” Isla said. “My mom and I are very close because of that, which I think is really nice.”

20 minutes: Commuting from a home in the Santa Cruz Mountains

Even though his family lives within district boundaries, junior Madin Kaul takes approximately 20 minutes to get to school daily and sometimes longer, depending on what time he leaves and the level of traffic on his way there. Since Kaul lives far up in the Santa Cruz Mountains and there has been construction on the road to his house over the past year, he also has to wait approximately 30 minutes after school ends for the construction to pause before heading home.

Kaul previously attended Argonaut Elementary and Redwood Middle, since his parents preferred the environment of schools at Saratoga over the Los Gatos schools. He said he enjoys the atmosphere of SHS, finding it competitive yet welcoming. 

“I like the ambitious mindset here since everyone wants everyone else to be better,” Kaul said. “We want to raise everyone to a certain level so that we can all achieve something great.”

Kaul is involved in Bombay in the Bay, the band program, marching band leadership and Saratoga Symphony Orchestra, often having his activities spread throughout the day. Because of this, Kaul often has to face the challenge of driving back and forth between school and home multiple times daily. 

During the fall as a section leader in marching band, Kaul usually stays at school until about 10 p.m. to clean up after marching band night rehearsals, so he only starts his homework around 10:30 p.m. 

However, Kaul tries to go to bed around 11 p.m. or midnight. since he often finds it easier to get up around 4-5 a.m. to finish assignments, as he is more productive during the mornings. Even on days he doesn’t have too much homework, he gets up around 6:30 a.m. so he does not feel rushed to leave the house. Kaul leaves home by 7:40 a.m. in order to avoid morning traffic, and once he gets to school, he often has about half an hour to spare and usually stays in the music building to get small activities done. 

With the many time-consuming challenges that come with the daily commute to and from school, Kaul is ultimately grateful for living in the mountains. 

“I know the commute sucks, but the security and privacy that you have in the mountains is great, and I find it to be very peaceful,” Kaul said.