"Buzz", off goes the alarm clock, awakening Taft sophomore Martin Villanos at 6 a. When he gets himself together, he realizes its time to start off a fresh new week of school. Villanos" eyes slowly open as he hits the snooze button on the alarm clock. As he hesitates to get up out of bed, he looks at the time and it is suddenly 6:05 a.m. In a matter of seconds, he arises from bed and begins his daily morning routine to prepare for school.
When asked about sleeping habits, Villanos claims, "Sometimes it's really hard to just wake up in the morning because I only get 7-8 hours of sleep." Besides just attending school from 7:30-2:30, he has to deal with after school practices for Naval JROTC and Geometry tutoring. "There are times when I don't get home until 5pm and I still have to eat and do my homework which hardly gives me time for anything else." However when he does get enough sleep, he is able to perform well academically, socially, and physically without the use of caffeine products such as coffee. .
Along with Villanos, other teens attending Taft claim that although they lack sleep, they still would not give up their after school activities because it is what they want to achieve. On the other hand, various teens blame homework for the lack of sleep. Another Taft student named Leon Rojas says, "There are times when teachers give us pointless, time consuming, amounts of homework. I really hate it when some teachers, like my Chemistry teacher, gives out homework that would take about an hour to do and doesn't even go over it or collect it." .
Mrs. Villanos, Martin Villanos" mother, claims that, "Teens are trying to do too much at once. School should be their full-time job because going to school, attending after school activities, and then going on to work affects students mentally and stresses them out. In my opinion, students should only take jobs that would allow them to only work weekends and/or over the summer.
