Wake up. School. Practice. Repeat. This is what some students at our school deal with on the regular basis. Many students at BOYCP have a driven passion for certain sports. And to some students, a certain sport or multiple sports, make up a student’s identity. But what happens when a student-athlete has no time to chat, no time to rest, but simply having to deal with an endless cycle of dedication and hard work? You don’t want to stop doing what you love but neither do you want to fail a class. Student-athletes usually spend two to three hours at practice and three to four hours completing homework. Many may argue that this situation may be reasonable or fair, but is it really? Students involved in sports go through a strenuous schedule rather than an easygoing school day because they have limited time and it’s used completing homework. It is very common for these types of students to have irregular sleeping patterns due to the amount of assignments meant to be worked on at home. Irregular sleeping patterns lead to poor performance at school. Sleep deprivation is the last thing anyone would want, especially someone as a student athlete, in which they need enough energy for a full school day and for physical activity after. How can this be managed? Less homework, more school work. This is a more convenient way of dealing with an issue as such. The majority of work can be assigned in class while less homework is handed out. This can be extremely convenient for those in sports since they won’t need to worry about staying up all night trying to catch up on school work. We can finally end stressful, sleepless nights and this can be a start of an energetic class environment. Homework shouldn’t be seen with such a hateful view but rather be seen as a positive one.

– Kimberly Franco