From the beginning of each student’s academic career, he or she is told how important grades are. Teachers and parents also tell youth how crucial it is to have friends and how valuable extra-curricular involvement is. How can students handle it all?

All over social media, students complain about trying to cope with all the pressure. While they try to study for US History, that special somebody keeps calling them. What do they do? They multitask. They prioritize. They organize. That is…they try to.

“No one knows how hard it is,” senior Allie Sweatt said. For the past few years, Sweatt has tried to find a balance between her athletic life, social life, love life and, of course, her high school career.

“I think for athletes, you go to school, you get pounded with homework and you try to ask the teachers if you could just…not do this today. They don’t understand. You get home from school, try to do all your homework but then you have to go out for practice,” senior Lindsey Wright said.

Wright plays volleyball year-round for both the school and club teams. These activities act as a huge time consumer, but do student athletes have a choice? They must stay in shape for scholarship opportunities. Then once they get some scholarships they still have training for their top division sports to think about.

“There’s just not enough time,” Sweatt said.

Student athletes look forward to the weekend for a possible break but are disappointed right away.

Junior Sam Griffin barely ever socializes during the week. Instead of going to Bobby’s Ice Cream down the road, Griffin stays at home doing schoolwork as he maintains his stellar GPA, hits up the gym to exercise or he is at football or wrestling practices. “I don’t get to hang out with people much at all,” he said.

“You think, ‘Oh, it’s the weekend! I get to sleep in and do my homework!’ No, you don’t,” senior Samantha Kolo said.

With all of these time constraints in high school, some might think that college would be a time for these student athletes to reevaluate their lives and make time for themselves.

“I think being able to pan out your own schedule will make a big difference,” Kolo said.