School can be stressful for students. They go home to do homework and have free time, but other students don’t have time to do homework and get to have free time. These other students have jobs, so they must maintain the balance of school and work.
Having a job may not seem amusing, but the benefit is having your own money which you can spend however you want. Three South students decided to share how they manage and juggle their time between school and work.
South Junior Brandon Villalobos said that teachers should take it easy on students who work.
“One of my teachers will be giving out a lot of homework, and her class specifically is the one I struggle with the most because I just don’t have time to do any of it,” he said.
Villalobos said time management is very important. “I have to juggle work and school by completing homework at school or doing it right after I get home from work, but I try not to stay up too late.”
He added that he finds it hard “getting homework done because after work, I am exhausted and not able to eat.” The advice Villalobos gave for students who want to work and juggle classes is to “try to manage your time as much as possible, make a schedule for yourself every day, and take advantage of your off days.”
South Junior Kevin Gallardo agreed with Villalobos and said that “teachers should take it easy on students because you don’t know what kind of situation they are going through, and giving more homework can cause more stress, which is not good for the student.”
Gallardo said he manages the load by “having most of my homework done already in class or during my free time so when I get home from work, I can just relax or get a little more homework done.”
Gallardo said he is glad when some of his teachers give him time to be able to complete homework at school so that he’s able to relax more when he’s not.
Gallardo said the most challenging part of working and going to school is that sometimes it can get overwhelming, “and you feel like you just have so much going on, especially with tests and finals and after school activities.”
Some of Gallardo’s advice to students is to “take things one step at a time, because you can only do so much, so focus on what you can do, and try your best. You got this.”
South Senior Briceyda Alavarez Simon agreed that teachers should take it easy on students who work.
Simon said her first two years of work and school were fine, but as a senior it’s been more difficult to maintain the balance between the two.
“I have two study periods on B days, so I usually try to do all my work during then, if not after school or on the weekends,” she said. “I don’t have to stress about juggling work and school since I’m not scheduled most days.”
Simon said one challenge she faces is that after school she’s usually tired and doesn’t have a lot of motivation to do anything, “or sometimes I’m busy and don’t have time to complete things.”
Simon doesn’t give up though; she’s still motivating other students with her actions. “Some words of advice I would give are to not give up even though it gets stressful since at the end of the day, it pays off.”
