WOODBURY — I’m struggling day by day, class by class, to stay awake at school. Last night, I got home from hockey practice at 11:45 and didn’t fall asleep until 1. I proceeded to wake up at 5:30 a.m. for school.
I sit in class struggling to keep my eyes open. It’s especially worse when I’m not moving around and just sitting.
Although I struggle with the lack of sleep and tiredness in school, I’m not the only one who does. My teammates and many students here at Nonnewaug deal with many of the same struggles.
“It’s hard when hockey practice is at 10:30 and I don’t get home until like 11:15 most nights, then I have a bunch of homework I have to do. I don’t fall asleep until close to 1 am on school nights,” said junior hockey player Connor Segers. “Some teachers don’t recognize what we have going on after school.”
School is so draining around this type of year with the cold weather and repetitive school days just doing classwork.
Many students work a lot of weird hours outside of school. When we have many entrepreneurs in this school making a business, and they are focused on that. Some of these students at Nonnewaug get up very early and go to work and grind before school or they work right after school and have late nights.
Noah Blood and Noah Zupan, both juniors at NHS, were up at 12 a.m. plowing during one of many snowing nights when we had the delayed opening from the snow, but they were at school that day.
“I felt like a zombie at school. I was so tired and I couldn’t lock in for my school work,” said Zupan.
No wonder why kids can’t focus and learn. It’s hard because some of these students – “kids,” many people say – have hard, late-night situations they have to deal with.
Hockey, basketball, track, and many sports teams this year have gotten back from away competitions very late. After one hockey game last winter, we got back at 12:30 a.m. Athletes then proceed to go to school on time the next morning because if you’re late, you will get detention.
With that being said, these students are putting in so much time on extra activities that are important to this school.
It’s very hard when I’m trying to learn about something that brings no motivation. I find myself getting distracted often in all my classes. That distraction sometimes causes stress or tiredness.
My eighth-period history class has a lot of people with their heads down on their desk sleeping. A lot of people find the eighth period the most draining because they just want to go home.
I can relate because everyday there’s at least three or four students in my class who get yelled at for having their heads down and sleep.
“Some classes make me more stressed or tired because of the lack of work,” said Tessa O’Neil, a junior at Nonnewaug. “In history class, I find myself with my head down a lot because it is the end of the day and a class I don’t enjoy.”
Everyone works differently and there may be some solutions to being stressed or tired. For me, and a lot of other students, we take walks for a couple minutes.
A lot of people and doctors recommend having caffeine. For some people, like me, caffeine tends to help me focus.
In some scenarios working, with a partner also makes me work more sufficient.
When work gets done especially in my harder classes, then I become less stressed.
This is the opinion of Matt Molleur, a junior hockey player and reporter for the Chief Advocate.
