Congratulations! You are back to high school, back to see your friends, and back to see your favorite teachers here. I am sure you guys are a mix of worried and happy for the 2025-2026 year. Although, one thing most of you guys are not excited for is the wake up times. School starts at 7:20 a.m., meaning students here wake up at around 6:30 a.m. to get ready along with the commute to school, and that isn’t including if students here have buses to catch.
After this nice relaxing summer where most students wake up at around 9 a.m. it is probably hard to adjust to the high school schedule.
Waking up at around 6:30 a.m., or earlier, can be hard but what people need is a good routine and habit to be able to wake up go to school refreshed and ready to learn.
Not being tired during school can allow better focus for your work and the lesson; being tired causes your concentration, decision making and energy to decline, while your irritability and your risk of sickness increase.
When people say that you need to have a good night’s rest before tests, they’re not just saying it casually; not sleeping can be detrimental to your performance in school and in life in general.
Having a solid time to wake up is a good start to the morning; try using the clock on your phone for an alarm. If you don’t have a phone it can also be a good idea to buy an actual alarm clock that can’t fail if the power shuts off during the night or if you forget to chrage your phone.
So if you don’t feel that’s a risk worth taking, a battery alarm clock would work well. I recommend setting multiple alarms on your phone so you have multiple chances to wake up, and for a non-phone alarm clock set it before you need to get up as there is the snooze button to press that can do almost the same thing.
Breakfast is also something that people eat in the morning. If you can’t eat something hot like pancakes or eggs because of the mess it can make, there are other options. Options like cereal (dry or with milk), oatmeal, fruit, toast or even a protein/granola bar. If you can’t eat at your home here at Terrace there is also breakfast you can get before classes start. Eating something is also important for your mood and your ability to learn and focus, especially your classes before lunch.
Checking your bag to see if you have your Chromebook off the charger, your homework, and even checking to see if you have your pencils and pens can make help start your morning. Coming prepared to class will not only make your teachers happy, but set you up for a good day.
You are responsible to make sure your backpack has the contents you need and making sure you have everything is an important habit to have before you realize that the note card for your test is on your bed five minutes before the unit test begins.
Your nighttime routine is also important for your ability to wake up in the morning.
Having a good morning routine that starts at 6 a.m. isn’t that helpful when you fall asleep at 3 a.m. You should also have a good time to fall asleep, it is recommended that teens get around eight hours of sleep by the CDC.
So if you wake up at 6 a.m.? Go to bed at around 10 p.m. If you can, you should also try to keep screens like a tv, phone, or computer to a minimum so you can hopefully fall asleep easier.
You can also do other productive things like reading a book, drawing, or even doing your non-digital homework if you need something to do that isn’t looking at a screen.
If you don’t want to catch yourself having to pull an “all nighter’ doing homework it is also recommended that you use your time wisely in and out of class for homework and projects. If a teacher gives you time to work on something in class you should probably use that time to the best of your ability and work on it.
What if you already finished a project and a teacher gives you time in class for it? You can ask them if you could work on another assignment in and out of their class, or use it to study for a test.
I know after summer break it might be a little hard to get back to the swing of things, both for our returning students and our freshman, but if you have a routine and stick by it? It might not be a walk in the park, but it’ll still help with the start of the day.
