Being out of school for almost six months now, students have fallen out of their everyday schedules. With that, they may have also begun to lose motivation to get themselves to do school work, college application work or just stay on top of their lives. With strength and willpower they are adapting to fix these issues.

The need to motivate themselves entirely on their own may be a new concept for students. Pairing that with a new school, freshmen are doubly challenged to buckle down and focus this school year. One way they can stay motivated is to set short-term goals to achieve by the end of the week or month, so they are always staying proactive and productive.

For the sophomores, they already have one year under their belt, but may be still getting used to the high school dynamic. Sophomore Ganeev Kaur has found it best to fall back into old habits to continue to succeed. “Freshman year I got into the habit of using my agenda book for everything. This year I bought a new calendar book and am using those same habits to make sure I don’t fall behind. One of the other tactics I use to stay motivated is to decorate my desk space. This allows me to feel comfortable and actually like I am sitting in class,” Kaur said.

Juniors may find the shift back to school difficult as they head into their hardest year of high school. For junior Darae Kang, it has been helpful to create a mock in-person school routine. “Even though things are virtual, I treat it as if I were in a real classroom environment. I made a schedule for each day of the week to make sure I manage my time well. Virtual school definitely made me grow as an independent student, but at the same time I hope it doesn’t last too long,” Kang said.

For the seniors, time management is especially important: with both school work and college application work they have to manage their time extremely efficiently. Senior Ryan Meyer handles school, college applications and tennis all at the same time, and has found motivation through setting long-term goals. “I have had to use time management skills because school work and tennis take up nearly my whole day. I have kept myself motivated because I am trying to get recruited to play tennis in college, and in order to do that, I have to work hard in both my academics and athletics. I have started waking up earlier to get work done, used my time effectively and worked extremely hard on and off the court in order to reach my goals.”