For most students, high school is stressful. For students who not only are in advanced classes, sports, but also have a job, the amount of stress only increases. Over my time of being at North High, I’ve had a job, played sports and been in advanced classes since my sophomore year. Now being a Senior, the stress load is being incre

ased more and more with finances for college.

Others share the same story.

Joseph Blea started working at Goodwill and soon after joined North’s bowling team. “ The amount of stress and pressure just to have everything done and making sure I was doing everything while trying to manage my grades was a difficult task for me,” Blea said.

Blea said that since he has not been working he’s had more time on his hands and more time for school. There are so many students who manage all three of these aspects with little to no difficulty but those kids are rare. “I like having things to do, for me managing all the stuff going on in my life is what keeps me sane sometimes,” student Lacey Gamble said.

We want teens to get a good education, be involved in sports and extracurricular activities and also learn work experience by having a job. But at what cost? My teachers who assign homework don’t understand that after school I have a two hour practice and then right after, I change in my car to work until 10:30-11 pm. By the time I get home, I have to shower and then do homework. When I finally go to bed, it’s 3 a.m. and I have to be up at 6 a.m. In fact, a study last year showed that the impact of excessive homework on high schoolers included high stress levels, a lack of balance in children’s lives and physical health problems such as ulcers, migraines, sleep deprivation and weight loss.”- CNN.com

So what is the solution? Finding balance can be difficult. Many students have already figured that out.