Noise resonated off the bedroom door while she rushed to complete the mass amount of assignments before Monday. After a long week of cross-country in the mornings, basketball in the afternoons, and helping with volleyball practices later after school, she manages to get only a slight amount of work done during the school days.

This exhausting schedule is a weekly agenda for Emily Boyd. As a freshman, she takes all honors classes, choir, and basketball athletics. Emily is also a member of the cross-country team and one of the managers for freshman volleyball. A few weeks into school and Emily knows that she definitely was not prepared.

“I didn’t know it would be so time consuming,” Emily said, adding that the work in ninth grade is harder than it was in middle school.

She usually stays at school for about twelve hours. According to Emily, this makes schoolwork difficult to complete. Every night, Emily takes about two to three hours to finish homework, goes to bed late, and wakes up for cross-country at 4:30. Her late nights finishing homework cause short sleeping hours. Realizing this, she plans on making changes for next year.

“Next year, I’ll definitely make sure I have more time to do things,” she said, explaining that she needs a more flexible schedule and time to relax.

Her choices not only effected her homework time, but her time with family and friends as well. Her school events and classes consume much of her time and she definitely regrets her decisions. With little time to spare, she misses Wednesday night and Sunday morning church on a regular basis. Emily now knows she’s unable to complete everything on her schedule.

“I’ve learned that you have to take in to consideration that it’s going to be a lot more than you think it is,” Emily said. “Do what you want to do, but don’t take more than you can handle.”

She plans to follow through with her commitment to her sports for this year and to succeed in all her classes. Today, Emily understands how much choices in high school drastically change a student’s calendar.

“I added more and more to my plate and I couldn’t take all of it,” Emily said. “My advice to others would be to really ask yourself how much you can do and what your goals are for your future. Let those influence your school schedule.”

Emily’s goal is to be in the top 7% of her class, preparing to attend UT. In order to achieve her goal, she plans to take all honors classes next year and make wiser decisions with her extra activities and sports. She wants to focus on undertaking as much as she can handle, not on how much others are doing.

“Don’t chew more than you can swallow,” Emily said. “Realize that you can’t do everything; we’re not invincible.”