Taking on Math Honors, AP & After school activities
In our school a lot of students enter AP (Advanced Placement) classes because it looks better on your transcripts when you want to enter a university. Apart from these challenging classes, students can also take Honors classes in Math and participate in after school sports. Each is time consuming and demands great dedication. To do all three of them almost requires having a superpower. I had the opportunity to interview two students who are very active in school and ask them how they cope with their load.
Rodrigo serious because of school stress.
First we have Rodrigo Robelo. Rodrigo is a Sophomore and is 16 years old. He is in Math Honors; he feels this class is difficult, but he still wants to continue because he wants to challenge himself as much as possible. He is also in AP Psychology, which is an after school AP. This means that when his regular day is over, he has one extra class, and an AP at that. Finally, he is also in soccer and practices after his AP class.
How does he do it? I talked to Rodrigo and he casually said that after he gets home and eats, he rests for 30 min and then does his homework. After that, he still has the energy to do a little bit of gym at his house and then continues with homework. He usually goes to bed around 10pm and does the same thing again the next day. How does he cope? “Time management”, he says smiling. He has a plan and he sticks to it.
However, I do see the effect that this schedule has on Rodrigo, since he shares how stressed out he gets before a test...
On the other hand we have Ana Sofia Chamorro, who is a 15-year-old freshman and is also part of The CSA Times Staff. Ana Sofia is in Math Honors, AP 2-D Art and Design, and in the volleyball team. Outside of school she is in guitar class, and she also belongs to a community in Monte Tabor. They meet every Thursday night.
Ana Sofia smiling because it is Friday?
Ana Sofia says that she always tries to leave an hour between every activity so that she does not feel overwhelmed. She says that when she has a lot of homework, she tries to tackle the hardest one first. She also uses every chance she gets to advance, like doing homework in the car when she goes to guitar class and/or to Monte Tabor. That saves her valuable time.
This degree of dedication and commitment are not for everyone, though. Ana Sofía and Rodrigo are examples to follow, since they are juggling their responsibilities in an admirable way.