As the first semester here at Niles North slowly but surely inches along towards the looming deadlines of finals and report cards, some students are in the dog days of the academic term. Many feel unmotivated and depressed by the school environment, and this is furthered by the long nights of homework and the insufficient amounts of sleep that come with being a high school student.

So what is a cure for all this gloom and doom that I, and many of my peers face during this rough time of the semester?

A late start! Yesterday’s late start was a welcome relief for Niles North pupils, with students spending the extra hour and a half that the late start gave them in a variety of different, often productive ways.

When talking to fellow students, it seemed that the most common late start activity was to simply catch up on sleep, and this is personally what I enjoy doing on the cherished few days that we start school later. For a high school student, sleep is an underrated aspect of success, whether it be academically or athletically, so having a day where you can sleep later than normal is crucial.

“Just being able to set your alarm a little bit later than usual is such a good feeling. I love late starts.” Jordan Giamouridis, sophomore, said.

While many chose to use their time to catch up on some valuable Z’s, other students completed homework assignments or studied for tests in their difficult core classes, and some people even hit up popular restaurants such as IHOP or Dunkin Donuts to eat breakfast in the company of their friends.

“I personally tried to catch up on some missing assignments and do some of my homework during the late start, I didn’t do any of my homework the night before but the late start gave me time to complete it.” Chris Odisho, junior, said.

[perfectpullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”I personally tried to catch up on some missing assignments and do some of my homework during the late start, I didn’t do any of my homework the night before but the late start gave me time to complete it.”[/perfectpullquote]

Though the Niles North student community often spent their time in different ways, one consensus could be reached, and that was that late starts and late arrivals should occur with more frequency, and maybe even become consistent in their scheduling and timing.

“If we had a late start like every Friday or something, that’d be great. It would make waking up on a Monday easier knowing that I could show up to school on Friday at 9:40 a.m.” Paris Till, sophomore, said.

While the idea of a weekly late start may be a bit unrealistic, I feel it is not ridiculous for a potential increase of late starts of the positive benefits of them can be shown.

The problem is right now that the late starts are when teacher meetings occur, and that is the primary reason for the postponed arrival to school. Right now, the administration doesn’t look at something that benefits the students, they are simply ways for teachers to fit meeting into their busy schedule. Also, teachers deserve days of prolonged sleep and relaxation, so maybe we should consider having late starts where no meetings or student activities occur.

Whether the school administration decides to make late starts more frequent or not, each student can agree that late starts provide a welcome respite from the long school grind.

Featured image credits to Arooba Lodhi