Juggling sports, clubs, and jobs while continuing to maintain good grades can be a challenge for many students at Chamblee. With high academic standards and a multitude of extracurricular opportunities, it’s possible that students find themselves overwhelmed trying to balance everything.
Katie Krull (‘27) said she has a job working at Novo Cucina, an Italian restaurant in Dunwoody, where she puts in five to six hour shifts, four days a week.
“I am a hostess and barista at Novo Cucina, and [working] makes it very hard to work on homework after school. I try to get most of [my homework] done during class; I never waste five minutes,” said Krull.
In addition to her job, Krull is involved in numerous clubs including National Honor Society (NHS) and Beta Club, which both require a set number of volunteer hours per semester.
“I have to get a lot of service hours for NHS and Beta,” said Krull.
Luke McNamara (‘27) said that he works in the restaurant business as Krull does, as well as plays water polo, and spends his days at school with a schedule full of vigorous courses.
“I’m taking AP Lang, AP German, AP Chem, AP Calculus AB, Orchestra, Essentials of Healthcare, and US History. I have about two to three hours [of homework] every day,” said McNamara. “[To balance these classes,] I try to mark everything down in my calendar to make sure [assignments are] done when they need to be. I try to do one section of homework a day and see where it goes from there. If I get an assignment done quickly, then I’ll use the extra time to work on another assignment,” said McNamara.
Madison Shields (‘28), like McNamara, is an athlete, practicing for cross country for around 15 hours per week while still managing to work on homework and projects.
“[While] I do get overwhelmed with the amount of work I have to do sometimes, I make sure to mark down dates in my calendar so that I don’t miss a deadline,” said Shields.
Sloan Hagler (‘29), on the other hand, is able to be on two sports teams, be the JV girls softball manager, and participate in three clubs, including Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), Student Government Association (SGA), and a special needs connection club called Best Buddies.
“I am [currently] playing water polo and flag football and am the softball [team] manager. I probably spend about 18 hours a week doing just those things. I am also in FCA, SGA, and Best Buddies,” said Hagler.
During the first two weeks of school, when she was still working, Hagler said that her job made completing school work harder because of the time commitment.
“I am a lifeguard and swim coach [over the summer], which carries over into the first week or two of school. This makes it harder to manage school work because the time constraints for my job aren’t very flexible. If I have work after school then I’m going to be up later at night working [on my homework] because I can’t just call [my boss] and say I have homework [as an excuse],” said Hagler.
Shields, as well as Eva Thatcher (‘27) and Mary Jury (‘27), can spend up to five hours every week at their churches leading younger students and participating in youth activities.
“I lead a group of first grade boys and girls along with being involved in the high school small group ministry,” said Thatcher.
Despite attending a different church, Jury said she has similar time commitments as Thatcher.
“I am vice president of my church’s chapel choir and I go to youth group and small group which are all on Sunday,” said Jury.
It seems as though CHS students do an impressive job of keeping all their ducks in a row by staying on top of their school work while juggling sports, clubs, and jobs.
