The Student News Site of Black River Falls High School

BRFHS Paw Print

The Student News Site of Black River Falls High School

BRFHS Paw Print

The Student News Site of Black River Falls High School

BRFHS Paw Print

Juggling Priorities

Homework, jobs, sports, activities; in today’s world, these are all a given. Juggling these priorities can be challenging for students.

“[I wish I was less busy] a lot of times,” said sophomore Sandy Lin.

Along with school and hefty amounts of homework, Lin is in tennis, has chores to do at home and is a waitress and cashier at her parent’s restaurant, the Oriental Kitchen. Another unique responsibility Lin holds is to serve as a full-time translator for her parents.

“I’m the oldest and my parent’s English isn’t very good,” said Lin. “When I was 12, my parents told me I had to start learning how to find plane tickets for our family…I had to learn to do a lot of things like that at an early age. I also have to do a lot of the housework since they are at the restaurant so much.”

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Another conflict Lin often faces is having more than one thing to do at a time.

“If [I’m supposed to work but have something else to do] I have to make sure to tell my parents ahead of time. Then I have to find another day to work to make up for [the day I missed] or switch days with my brother,” said Lin.

Junior Chad Bahnub also has to deal with things being scheduled over his job.

“My farm chores always come first. I stay up late most nights to finish homework or anything else I have to do,” said Bahnub.

Between school, the farm, sports and activities, Bahnub rarely has free time.

“[I only have free time] on some Sundays,” said Bahnub.

This is something that has changed over the past few years, according to FCS teacher and FCCLA adviser Tina Gilbertson.

“Since I’ve been teaching, I would say I’ve seen a lot more students working outside of school, some even 30 to 40 hours a week. I think this may be leading to a decrease in participation in school activities,” said Gilbertson.

She’s seen even more of a change since she was in high school.

“When I was in high school, students were much more involved in school activities. People had jobs, but they but they worked fewer hours than students do today,” said Gilbertson. “There was so much more school pride because people were much more involved.”

However, having such a busy schedule doesn’t have to be so stressful.

“[My advice would be] just to work hard,” said Bahnub. “Don’t procrastinate, use your time wisely, and get plenty of sleep,” said Lin.

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Juggling Priorities