School starts at 8:00 a.m. and ends at 3:05 p.m., but for students, the school day takes more than seven hours.

Students must balance extracurricular activities as well as homework outside of school, forcing them to cram in information with the time between the end of school and the next day.

“I usually get about one and a half hours of homework a day,” freshman Sam Rosenbaum said.  “It’s not too much work, but still takes some time.”

Rosenbaum said getting everything that needs to be done in a day is still accomplishable and homework has yet to take up all of his time.

“Freshman year is supposed to be a transitional period where students make the leap from middle school to high school, so I think that the homework load is reasonable,” Rosenbaum said. “However, it would be easier to balance school, sports and friends if I had less homework and the school day was shorter.”

Sophomore Lloyd Ashton faces a similar homework load now as when he was a freshman.

“On average, I get about one and a half hours of homework in my classes,” Ashton said. “It hasn’t changed dramatically since freshman year, but the classes are getting more difficult.”

With history being a required class, there are more academic classes for sophomores to focus on, Ashton said.

“I balance my homework with my extracurricular stuff by doing my homework during school and right when I get home to get it out of the way,” Ashton said.

Licensed clinical social worker Jennifer Tan said it is helpful for teenagers to find an effective balance of academics, a social life, and athletics. Tan said this can be developed through trial and error and comes over time.

“Balance is very individual,” Tan said. “That kind of work takes a lot of ego strength. I don’t think teenagers learn [to balance] as a teen, but it starts there and by adulthood it is mastered.”

Junior Elizabeth Sweeney said junior year is the big year in high school, and with it, there are obviously going to be more classes that require more attention. By designating certain times for homework, like right after school and at night, she said the homework load is more manageable.

“On certain days I get about three hours of homework, but on other days I can get more,” Sweeney said.  “It just depends on what classes I have the next day.”

Sweeney said not only do juniors have to study for school, but many are also studying for the SAT or ACT.

“With varsity tennis and homework, my day is kind of filled up,” Sweeney said, “so I work almost all day.”

Tan said that being part of a group and a team is something that allows conflict resolution skills and social skills. She said she thinks playing on a team sport and being able to balance lifestyle is something that everyone needs.

“If you can get a grip on it when you’re a teen that is wonderful,” Tan said. “There is nothing negative to be said about being well rounded.”

Sweeney said balancing school, sports and friends is really hard junior year and that she wishes there was less pressure in general.

“But I usually put my social life over my academics because my friends are important to me,” Sweeney said.

Senior Theo Williamson said senior year is the year to apply to college and get ready for the next transition. He said everyone goes through high school with the same relative amount of homework. Students just have to find a way to balance it all with their other activities.

“Just wait until senior year,” Williamson said. “It’s worth the work.”

Tan said that as teens mature, they learn to become more independent thinkers.

“As [teens] develop [their] own values, they recognize that values are different from family,” Tan said. “With that comes a wanting to explore your own values and interests, a world that differs from family.”

Tan said teens need to recognize that they cannot be successful in everything.

“There is some disappointment in realizing you must narrow things down a bit because you’re not so good at other things,” Tan said. “[Teens] can be disappointed by it, but should accept the way that life is going to be. When you reach college you’ll have to choose a major [and later on a] career choice.”

Tan said teens are still figuring out expectations for themselves, and that they have to learn how to meet others’ expectations and their own expectations.

“It is a steep learning curve,” Tan said. “Over time you learn the difference between putting someone else down versus letting yourself down.”