As the first semester of my junior year wraps up, one thing that I’m still not used to is waking up at the appropriate time to get to school.

I wake up at 6 a.m., sometimes earlier and sometimes later. But the thing is, it only takes seven minutes to get from my house to school, so I’m one of the lucky ones.

Others aren’t so lucky.

Some students have to get up earlier than 6 a.m. because their drive to school is much longer compared to mine, and waking up that early doesn’t give people enough time to get quality sleep.

So what’s the best way to fix this? Have SHS start at a later time.

According to a study done by IU, only three other counties (not including Marion) in Indiana have public high schools that start at 7 a.m.

There are a few factors that go into why we start school so early.

One of the main reasons was transportation. The district used to have only two tiers of transportation, one for elementary and one for grades 6-12, and not a lot of bus drivers.

Alongside the fact that we have kids that attend C9 and sports, it made sense to start school at 7:10 a.m.

And sure, it’s great leaving school around 2 p.m., but sacrificing sleep to do so isn’t.

Lack of quality sleep is linked to poor cognitive function and a cognitive decline, things like memorizing, focusing, reacting to your surroundings and mood overall, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

For me, being woken up by a loud alarm every morning at six a.m. definitely doesn’t seem very healthy either. So, even if school was pushed back for just an hour, it would make such a significant difference.

Now, the whole purpose of high school is to prepare us for college or the real world. 

In college, you get to pick your classes and when they start. In the real world, some jobs even allow for a flexible work schedule. So if middle schools, other high schools, colleges and real-world jobs are all starting later, then why do we have to be any different?

Our main goal as students is to thrive, and the goal of high school is to guide their students to be the best they can. 

So if we just tackled the most fundamental issue students face, which is sleep, the effects will be drastic.