Alexa+dl+R’s+2018+OpEd+Article

Me before 6:00 am (when I wake up) 😖  8:00am- Too Early?

Every morning, I get up at 6:00am so I can go on my run for half an hour. I then have to rush back home, take a shower, blow dry then brush my hair, get dressed, put on my make up, make breakfast and lunch (sometimes if I'm running late, I have to eat from the cafeteria), then all between 6:30 and 7:40am. By the time I'm out the door, I either have one shoe that I have to put on in the car, or I'm still trying to stuff my binder in my book bag.  It's the same routine every morning, and sometimes, I get yelled at for not getting up early enough when I am the first person living in that house who is awake in the morning. The hour and ten minutes is not always enough, and when it is, I barely make it to school on time. Sometimes, I tell my mother to hurry up when I see the clock in her car is 7:50 and so does my phone. I worry because even though the bell to get to class isn't supposed to ring until 8:00am, it often rings 3-4 minutes prior. By the time I get to class, I'm ready to fall asleep about half an hour many times, because I'm exhausted and my body is still likely to fall to sleep within 5 minutes after hitting a mattress right then and there. I have to force myself to stay awake, mindlessly take notes throughout the morning, and re-study them later, when I could be doing other homework. So it's the same story every single morning. I'm sure it's not only applicable to me, Many students all over the country (who start at 8:00am) stress about this almost every morning. What if things could be different? An hour long different.

Studies show that students who go to school at 9:00am rather than 8:00am, perform much better academically and socially. According to blogs.scientificamerican.com "The later classes begin, the more academic performance improves [...] attendance goes up, teen depression goes down, and fewer student drivers get into car crashes.