Student Fights Procrastination with Planning

By Evelyn Garibay

‘You can’t finish this assignment the night before it’s due.’

We’ve all heard this sentence more than once throughout our high school career. But do we really do the work, days before?

Time management is becoming ever more important as student lives are filled with applications, advanced school work, volunteering, sports and club commitments. As soon as you hit the dreadful eight periods a day in middle school, it seems like it’s nothing but hustle.

Senior Valeria Ramirez no longer struggles with procrastination and it’s a good thing because her schedule is packed from before and afterschool practices for the cross-country team to working at Arby’s and finishing advanced coursework.

“At first I was a little intimidated, since I had gotten the job during summer and all I did before was go to morning practices,” Ramirez said. “But now it’s a little different since school started. Everyday goes by in a blur.”

Ramirez’s busy schedule starts as soon as she wakes up, to the moment she can finally shut her eyes and take a breather. Taking her sister to school every morning to later rush to morning practices, then class and working Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 6-10 p.m.

“I remember sometime last week, I worked until 2 a.m. and was super tired the next morning so I skipped practice. I later saw my coach and explained why I couldn’t make it to practice, she said it was okay but I could tell she was upset about it and I couldn’t help but feel that way as well.”

Now, as we’re on the fourth week of school, Ramirez has gotten into the swing of things and knows how to handle her time and use it wisely.

Many students have these types of busy schedules. It’s a good idea to let teachers know about what you do, that way they can help you as much as possible with assignments and lessons.

“Just go for it and soon you’ll get the hang of it,” Ramirez said. “Find something that pushes or motivates you to complete your tasks, it becomes easier to conquer the more you practice it.”