Ever since the eighth period was established I have lied to myself to make it through the day. “Come on, Kiersten”, I think. “Just make it to Independent Study then you can take a quick nap on the big blue super plush *yawn* sofa with the oversize *yawn* pillows.

But then when eighth period comes I always find myself slaving away on assignments and continuously working on the newspaper. This unfortunate occurrence is the reason I don’t support early release.

Maybe I don’t have a very “social” life, but I have more than enough extracurriculars to make up for it including but not limited to Zero-Hour Wind-Ensemble, Monday Trumpet Sectionals and Tuesday Journalism Meetings. And between all of those pressures I can’t imagine how a student without a job would have to leave school early. If you are already here, then why not do something useful like being a Teacher, Library or Office Aide.

There are always the rumored “blow-off” classes, and for those who don’t want to take on another class period why not Independent Study or Study Hall. Nothing helps me de-stress like knowing I have an hour to finish a test or to get a tutorial on a subject I’m struggling in.

I’m sure there are students who would much rather be at home in time to squeeze in another Netflix movie or to destroy public property. But there are plenty more productive activities to do at school in a closed environment, an hour a day to concentrate on all the work in front of you and to get as much of it out of the way as possible.

However, this does not apply to students with jobs. I would never tell a student who works 20 plus hours a week they should throw in a couple school hours to that mix. And watch from that blue sofa while their GPA’s tank and they are left trudging through the halls with a burgeoning animosity towards authority and life in general.

Except for Ms. Peppy Pride and Mr. Super Smiles, we are in this struggle together. I just think the struggle should be for at least eight periods. So as you scrawl boxes around your schedule sheets, keep this in mind. If you can accomplish nothing else in that extra time, maybe you can meet someone else not-so-social and talk about this article together.