Health
Big loads, low grades
kira herron photo illustration
Maintaining high grades may become a challenge when extracurricular activities seem more intriguing than spending time studying. That, along with high expectations from parents and poor time management may often set a student up for stressful nights of cramming and failure at their job of being a student.
Senior Brenna Carlson takes classes at IB and is involved with band and drama.
“Extracurricular activities keep you balanced, but schoolwork gets you into college. Dedicate yourself and focus on one (extracurricular activity) and you won’t feel overloaded,” Carlson said.
Drama director Chelsea Cunningham feels that some students work well under pressure while others have trouble managing their time efficiently.
“Balancing schoolwork with other activities requires you to organize your life in general, decide what your priorities are, and take into account how you handle stress. Some students get too over-committed and forget that it’s their job to be a student first,” Cunningham said.
Cunningham also thinks that the reason students tend to put schoolwork after everything else is because it’s easy to get excited about extracurricular activities, whereas class isn’t necessarily as stimulating.
“Extracurricular activities are awesome and they teach us so much, but if you don’t end up with a diploma nobody cares if you were an athlete. It doesn’t get you a job,” Cunningham said.
Though it’s important to maintain high grades, Cunningham believes students tend to take on big loads with sports and clubs because they are resume driven, for social reasons or they simply have sheer love and interest for the activity.
“Extracurricular activities are good for our own well being. It’s our form of recess,” Carlson said.
Though Carlson sees the positive aspect of extracurricular activities, she has had to give up mock trial in order to find more time for schoolwork.
“There would be nights I wouldn’t get home until 9. With too many activities it’s hard to get schoolwork done,” Carlson said.
School nurse Jeanne Mark has had students come to her office with headaches and stomachaches due to feeling overwhelmed.
If students get too busy, they spread themselves too thin and then it’s hard to do well at everything,” Mark said.
Mark thinks it depends on the student- some students are good multi-taskers, while others think having a social life is more important than grades.
Another aspect that may cause struggles with maintaining a high GPA is parents having high expectations of their child.
“Parents can put too much pressure on the student that they may not be able to meet. Then students get stressed to attain what their parents want them to be,” Mark said.
Cunningham prefers to focus on the positive intention parents have when giving their child high expectations.
“As a child it was frustrating at times because I felt like I couldn’t live up to what my parents wanted. But now I totally see why they had high expectations. I wouldn’t have this job without them pushing me. The intention behind it is more important. Students don’t see that that’s how they (parents) love us,” Cunningham said.
Maintaining expectations may involve finding time for relaxation in order to deter the feeling of being overwhelmed.
“Take a break, hang out with friends, find whatever you enjoy doing and sometimes it’s the extracurricular activity that helps you. Trying to sit through four hours of homework won’t work, your brain will get overloaded,” Carlson said.
Mark feels that what always needs to come first is oneself.
“If you can’t take care of yourself, you can’t take care of commitments. You’ve also got to make good decisions for yourself,” Mark said.
Along with caring for oneself, Carlson keeps a few things in mind that drive her to success.
“Make sure you don’t let yourself get too stressed, figure out what the issue is, balance your time, use your planner, make sure you know what needs to get done and have goals, like college, to work toward,” Carlson said.