Is it too much?
Balancing a high school job, school, and extracurriculars
It is 11:00pm and you just got home from a tiring night of work. You still need to shower and finish a large amount of homework. Your stress and exhaustion levels are already high when you realize that you have to get up early tomorrow morning for practice.
Many students at Norwin relate to this feeling of being overworked. The struggle of balancing a high school job along with other extracurricular activities has become a major issue. In a recent poll taken by Norwin High School students, over 50 percent of students agree that they have extremely little free time on an average school day.
“I think it was always expected of me as I got older in order to make my own money so I can go out and spend it on the things I want,” said senior Emma Rigone. “It always helps with time management. Coming from a person who has little to no free time, it requires me to get things done [homework, workouts, etc.] in between school and work.”
There are differing reasons why students work a part-time job. Money is usually the main reason that high school students get a job, but what they do not realize is that once it is alongside school and their other activities (sports, clubs, etc) it often will become too much.
According to the PA Department of Labor and Industry, 70% of 16-to-24-year-olds make around or below the current minimum wage, which is currently $7.25 an hour.
The low wage can cause students to need to work extra hours. Those students are also busy with a variety of extracurriculars and school.
In the poll, the majority of students agreed that it is hard to manage everything along with their job. Time management is a big part of that.
According to the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development(ASCD): “ ‘Procrastination or time management’ is a major source of stress for 55 percent of high school students who take our survey. Eighty-one percent of students admit to multitasking when they do their homework (36 percent are on social media and 28 percent are watching TV, Netflix, YouTube, or some other video platform), which no doubt slows their progress.”
While students often find themselves stressed and in a panic to get everything done, this can be managed.
According to ProofHub.com, “ Time management is the process of planning and exercising conscious control of the time spent on specific activities to work smarter than harder. It is a juggling act of various things that help you increase efficiency and strike a better work-life balance. Improving your time management at work allows you to enhance your performance and achieve your desired goals with less effort and more effective strategies.”
With the right technique things like procrastination, stress, and exhaustion can be avoided. Here is some Norwin High School students advice on how to manage:
