Falling into the second semester of highschool, students begin to feel a downhill-rush of motivation. It becomes more of a need than a want, to get up, and get ready for school.

When the school year begins, excitement levels are high, and there are many curiosities of what the year will bring. What happens when things start feeling slower, and more repetitive?

Junior Ethan Neris Ortiz, shares his struggles with getting up for school in the morning. 

“At the beginning of the school year I woke up at 6:00-6:30, and now I’m waking up at 7:30. Once we get used to our schedule, we start filling up the free spots with habits. Those free spots for me are late at night, so now I’m going to sleep later, and waking up later” Neris Ortiz said. 

Some students are not able to fight the urges of staying in bed, it sounds like a good idea to skip, and get more sleep. 

“I have been finding myself wanting to just stay home a lot more often or even just skip first block, because it’s very tiring,” Neris Ortiz said. “Having the same schedule over and over again is just genuinely exhausting.” 

There seems to be a drift in the enthusiasm surrounding going to school. 

Senior, Kinsley Varn-Holmes, describes the differences she feels between the first and second semester. 

“The first semester was very fun and I was excited to start senior year, but then in the second semester, assignments started piling on, and I didn’t realize how fast the year would go, so I wish I had cherished [the first semester] a little more.” said Varn-Holmes 

Whether it stems from burnout, academic pressure, or the close end of the school year, it’s clear that many students are struggling to maintain the same drive they had in the beginning of the year.