Trying to balance school, sports, work and anything else in a day is not an easy task. I find myself fighting with this every day of the school year. 

On top of this, the lack of sleep I get every night does not help this problem at all. According to the CDC, “teenagers aged 13-18 years should sleep 8-10 hours per 24 hours.” As a 16-year-old, I can confirm that I do not get 8-10 hours of sleep each night.

Let’s start off with sports. This past school year for example, I swam for my high school. Every morning before school we would have practice from 5:15 to 6:15, requiring me to get up at 4:45 a.m. If you do the math, to get the minimum amount of sleep that I should get, I would have to go to bed at 8:15 p.m. But how is this possible with school work and softball practice the night before?

On a regular day, with no swim practice, I wake up around 6:30 a.m. to start getting ready for school, which officially starts at 8:20 a.m. This bell schedule does not allow a tennager to be able to have a healthy sleep schedule. 

Every night, I think to myself, “how am I supposed to get to sleep before midnight with all of this school work I have along with softball practice?”

There are numerous times I cry during the school year because I am stressed out about school work and on top of that, upset because I am so physically and mentally drained. I do not get enough sleep to be able to do everything I do each day. 

Even If I got to sleep by midnight, that’s six hours of sleep, which according to the CDC,  is just not enough.

A study from Health Line states, “Research has found that 73 percent of high school students regularly do not get a healthy amount of sleep.” 

If they keep the bell schedule as is, the teachers need to rethink the workload. I strongly believe that most teachers think we have no life outside their class and forget we have five other classes to worry about as well. It’s as if they think we have all the time in the world to work on things for their one class. That’s in addition to the sports many students play and the jobs many students work. 

When I lived in Florida, high school and middle school started around 8 a.m. and elementary school started around 9 a.m.. How is this fair? The children who have no homework, no jobs, and usually no sports get to sleep, which they don’t even do in the first place. 

Thomas Dekker famously said, “Sleep is the golden chain that ties health and our bodies together.”

Sleep is so important to our developing minds and bodies, and school starting early does not allow for adequate sleep. To be able to have good mental health and be involved in much more than just school, us teens deserve sleep.

Hi! My name is Hunter Pitrak and I live in Roswell, Georgia. I go to Roswell High School. In the fall I will be a junior. I have two very annoying brothers named Trevor and Dylan, Trevor is 14 and Dylan is 11. We also have a dog named Dash, who has one eye (fun fact).

This past school year was my first time taking journalism, and I enjoyed it a lot. I enjoy writing news and sports articles. My teacher told us about this camp and I really liked the idea of it because ever since I moved to Atlanta I have become a big Georgia fan and found UGA as a school I really want to go to. I also wanted to do this camp to learn more about journalism and hope to become a better writer, as well as get to learn more about UGA as far as the campus and community.

I was originally born in Richmond Virginia, where I moved around a couple times when my brothers came along because the houses kept running out of room. When I was going into 3rd grade, my family moved to Tampa, Florida, where we lived for about four years. Then after that, we moved to Atlanta Georgia. I have to say, Georgia is probably my favorite place that I have lived. While I miss some of my best friends from Florida as well as Virginia, I am able to arrange plans to see them every once in a while. I think Atlanta is a great place to live and a great option for me and my family.

In my free time — whenever have some — I enjoy hanging out with my friends, as well as baking and going shopping.

I have tried just about every sport when I was younger, but softball has been something I have stuck with for a long time. I started playing when I was about 7, and I haven’t really stopped. My freshman and sophomore year of high school I played for my school, but this year I decided to try out flag football, which I am also having lots of fun with. I also do swim team for my high school in the winter, which I really enjoy.

I have done summer swim team ever since I lived in Virginia because my parents put me in it and I found out how much fun it was so I kept going back every summer. Now that I am 16, I was offered the opportunity to coach this summer, and that’s what I have been doing. It is so fun, and I really enjoy working with kids and teaching them to better their swimming skills. I also work at a Barbecue restaurant that my neighbor owns, which has become a great job for me. I love the people I work with, and I find working in restaurant teaches great life lessons.

UGA has been a top college choice for me ever since I moved here, and I hope to get in, but if not I know wherever I end up will hopefully work out for me!