Remember the days when we got to go home after school and chill out while we drank a box of Juicy Juice? Yeah, me neither. Now a days, I’m lucky if I eat dinner before 10 P.M. We as high school students spend more time at school, between all of our academics, sports and other activities, than we do anywhere else for nine months straight. I think it’s ridiculous the amount of time we spend at school in a typical week and are still expected to be on top of our game.

First of all, we have to be at school and in class by 7:25, so we drag ourselves out of the comfort of our warm beds and trudge to school, half-zombified. As the day drags on, the good times and funny jokes with our pals help destroy our inner-zombie, and eight hours later, school’s over. The jocks sprint off to football or volleyball practice, the theatre kids head to rehearsal and the brainiacs head to debate.

Several hours later, practice ends and some students get to go home, but for others, their night is far from over. After practice, these students grab a crumb to eat, take a five-second power nap and then head back to school for show choir. Two hours later, their day is finally over. Total hours spent at school: 14. That’s insane. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if we were all Energizer bunnies, but we’re simply not.

Finally, after a long day of learning Einstein-level math equations that we will definitely need to know for the future, we get to go home. But school technically isn’t over yet. We stay up incredibly late scribbling nonsense answers onto our worksheets, plowing through tedious projects or skimming through some boring book that no one has heard of. Next thing we know, it’s midnight and our parents are nagging us about not getting our chores done, as if we’re their own personal Cinderella maid. Eventually, we go to bed, wake up three hours later and repeat the whole process. Again.

But that’s the sacrifice we make in choosing to do the things we love to do and at least students are involved in school activities instead of sitting on the couch eating stale Cheeto’s all day.

Our lives revolve around school through our high school years, but when I think about it, high school only happens once. We should enjoy ourselves before all of our time goes from fun commitments to required duties. Just one suggestion – when life gets too hectic, remember to kick back and enjoy a box of Juicy Juice every once in a while.