Opinion

Opinion Roundup: perspectives on balancing extracurricular activities & schoolwork

Kayla Vanegas, Leslie Linzan, Diana Saidi, Imogen Kujo, and Hannah Fang • November 9, 2024

Students share their perspective on extracurricular activities.

Sometimes being a student at Townsend Harris can feel like working a full-time job, especially as students are not only expected to have outstanding performance in each class, but also commit to extracurriculars. Below, multiple students spoke to The Classic, sharing their perspectives on the difficulty of balancing all the demands that come with being a Harrisite:

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“I’m in the Cross County team as well as Key Club and freshman grade leaders. I have track practice every day so I spend about five hours a day doing team sports. Key Club is around half an hour per week, Key Club and freshman grade leaders don’t require a lot of commitment like track does. For track,especially, I could use the hour of practice to do homework. After meets, I come home late and have to stay up late to do homework. I probably spend around two hours a day on homework and studying in total depending on the class. I don’t get to hang out with friends after school a lot because then I would have to stay up late to finish my homework. I try to study and do homework during lunch and sometimes I wake up early in the morning to catch up with any homework or studying. Sometimes I get overwhelmed but as long as I don’t procrastinate it’s fine. I like to read when I’m stressed or try to do productive things. Trying to do homework during lunch would help reduce the workload and stress.”

— Freshman Annabelle Kuroda

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“Currently I am in two clubs and I have yet to join a sport but I am planning to. I feel like sports teams or academic clubs require a lot more commitment than regular clubs do because you need to do more preparation and maybe stuff at home, and the meeting times are generally longer. I always try to make time for myself, it’s kind of a break among the chaos that school can bring. I try my best to make a written list of things I have to do per day, and I try to follow as much as possible, so I have an idea of what I’m doing. I listen to music or talk with people that I know will calm me down, like my friends. If you struggle with time management, I suggest that you make a to-do list of some sort which specifies certain times, so you’re able to organize yourself and have a good idea of what you need to do, [and how much time that will take]. I feel like school will inevitably be stressful at some point because things will start stacking up especially in the middle of the year towards Regents exams and AP exams. I think that people should try to implement any sort of stress diminishing activity they can into their schedules.”

— Sophomore Beyonce Boahen

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” I’m on the [handball and swim team as well as Model UN]. A lot of people think that junior year is the hardest year, but senior year is the hardest year of your life. You have to do college applications, and let’s say you’re in a sports team you have to do that too, then you have to do schoolwork. Some people have really hard classes even as a senior so they can’t just slack off on their work; they have to spend a lot of time on it, especially AP classes. They have at least an hour of homework for each class. You also have clubs, and volunteer hours, which the school requires. I have free bands, so during that time I’ll hang out with my friends, but I don’t have time during the weekends to hang out with them. In the beginning of the month, I was so burnt out and overwhelmed from all my classes and workload that I got a mouth ulcer. I was literally bedridden; I just had to sleep, eat, and drink to get better. I suggest getting those monthly planners and putting reminders on your phone and laptop. You definitely have to think about how your schedule is going to work out. If you easily forget what you have that day I would get a monthly planner and write it down there. To cope with stress, I would watch my favorite comfort shows and play games.”

— Senior Hailey Ahn

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About the Contributor

Samira Li, Photography Editor

Samira is a senior at Townsend Harris High School. She’s been into photography since joining the Classic and loves to explore new cameras. She enjoys spending time with her friends and exploring new things as they come.