THE ECHO

By Lauren Klein // Reporter

“It’s a lot.” 

Junior Hannah Foster works at Charbonos and was Homecoming planning for Student Government, planning for a mock competition for DECA, and had four AP tests in one week, and feels stressed balancing it all. 

Balancing life is hard for students who are juggling the many aspects of high school. While juggling school, extracurricular activities, family, and even a job, students can feel overwhelmed by all these different factors.  Junior Maddy Brown works at Crew Carwash and feels these pressures. 

“I feel like school is kind of taking over and soccer is kind of taking over,” Brown said. “But I’d rather have more time to do orchestra and work, but I just don’t have time.”  

Brown feels like school is taking over all of her assignments. She also feels like she doesn’t have enough time to put in her best work out at school. 

“I definitely don’t have enough time to properly study, that’s kind of just gone out the window,” Brown said. “I’ll get my schedule weeks in advance only to find out that one day before, I have a really big test to study for, and I have to try and find coverage if I want to actually study for that test and do well.” 

There are many different ways to stay organized, such as planners and reminders. Brown personally keeps organized with calendars and checklists. 

“I have multiple calendars and have this checklist of all my homework, and I use it to get all my homework done, and I make sure if there’s something that’s high priority, I’ll make sure I put a due date on it, so I don’t forget about it,” Brown said. 

Junior Timothy Paciorek just got a job at Ziggy’s Coffee shop, and he says he is just starting to find a good balance between his work and school life.  

“I currently don’t feel like I have a good balance, but I’m getting better and better because I just got the job and I’m figuring it out,” Paciorek said 

Having a job can result in a lot of scheduling, trying to figure out when to make time for what. Scheduling is the hardest part of having a job for Paciorek. 

“I have a lot of stuff going on right now, and I really don’t have an offseason like I’m constantly in sports,” Paciorek said. “I usually schedule work at the beginning of the week, and then I worry about sports until the work part comes into my life for the weekend.” 

While scheduling can be hard, Foster believes it is the most important part of finding that school-work-life balance. 

“You will never catch me without my planner,” Foster said. “When you find out about something, whether it’s homework or an event, write it down right away so you can schedule your time in advance for any conflicts you may have.” 

Spending time with friends and family is another big social part of life. While she believes her job and extracurricular activities give her time for her family and friends, Foster makes sure she schedules time to spend quality time with them. 

“My job does leave time for me to spend time with my family and friends and stuff, but you must make sure you prioritize it,” Foster said. “You got to have your priorities straight, but it definitely takes work to balance it all.” 

Foster warns of burnout and says it’s important to make sure you schedule time for yourself. 

“If you’re constantly going and going and going without scheduling breaks, that’s how burnout happens, and it’s really important that you schedule time for yourself,” Foster said.