Tuesday, March 21 was Palatine High School’s last late start day for the 2016-2017 school year.

To many, this fateful day marked an end to their opportunities to sleep in, catch up on homework, or simply relax in the midst of the frenzy and stress of high school life.

This lack of a break became more evident with the onslaught of AP exams, spring sports, and activities.

Now, having gone more than a month without late starts, I realized just how big of a difference starting school at 9:35 every other week has made in my high school career.

If I didn’t have those occasional extra hours to sleep in, finish assignments, or ask for last-minute help, I would have been much worse off academically.

I propose that we should have weekly late starts, considering that we don’t have that many half days, teacher institute days, and general non-attendance days to fall back on, especially around the busier periods of the school year.

“Weekly late starts would be beautiful, I think it’d give people a break,” Palatine High School junior Emily Kielba says. “I think they should be on Wednesdays though. It’d allow people the chance to de-stress, because sometimes the weekend isn’t enough.”

Kielba’s statement holds true for all students that have packed schedules, whether it be because they have weekend jobs, sports practice, or are taking a bunch of rigorous courses—or are trying to manage all of these things at once.

“I think we should have weekly late starts. I know Rolling Meadows [High School] has them every Thursday,” PHS junior Sherice Kendrick says.

As mentioned previously, RMHS has weekly late arrivals; students typically start school at 7:25, but on late arrivals school would commence at 8:30.

However, some students, such as PHS sophomore Kiana Graves, contend that having biweekly late starts is sufficient enough for them. Contrary to what others would like to see happen, Graves believes that we ought to have, “more early dismissals rather than late starts.”

Meanwhile, others think that having one- and two-week holiday breaks accommodates for not having weekly late starts.

But, the fact of the matter is that having occasional early dismissals and seasonal breaks just isn’t enough for many students.

A vast majority of students are oftentimes unable to accomplish all their tasks during the weekend, especially if they’re involved in sports or activities outside of school.

Having formal breaks every now and then doesn’t account for the hectic weeks that follow them—weekly late starts allow this stress to become more manageable.