As I sit in my third-period class, I try to concentrate on the lecture my teacher is giving. But I can’t. My stomach overrides these attempts and lets out a grumble because I haven’t eaten breakfast.

Fortunately, this experience is rare for me. I feel miserable when hungry, and it’s hard to focus when I’m miserable. Losing focus during class hurts my attempts at learning, and lectures seem to go in one ear and out the other.

Eggs, toast, cereal, cookies, pizza and almost any food is a viable option for breakfast — I just need to eat something before coming to school. Usually, breakfast doesn’t even take that long to make. If I spend two or three hours a day on homework, then surely I can spare 10 minutes in the morning to treat myself to some well-deserved food.

I typically don’t eat much at night, so by the time I wake up in the morning,  hours have passed since I have last eaten. There’s no way I could last another four hours until lunch without feeling hungry, especially after enduring the workload of AP classes like Statistics and Physics.

Think of it this way: There are many things I would give up for an extra 10 minutes of sleep, but I’ve learned that breakfast is not one of them.