After the first quarter of the school year ends, most students feel a wave of relief. They have survived the first quarter, and a lot of them do well in the first quarter. Yet when the second quarter comes around, why is it that many students tend to slack off and not do as well?

Soon after the second quarter begins, students in the Prince William County school district get an abundant amount of days off. During the month of November, students get days off because of Thanksgiving, Veterans Day, and Teacher Work Days.  These days off mess up their schedules. Many go to sleep later, meaning they wake up later, and they also procrastinate on work despite having extra days to do it. Once students have to get back into their regular school routine, their body and brain are thrown off, and they have trouble focusing and doing their work. The National Sleep Foundation reported that even though teenagers should be getting between 8-10 hours of sleep to perform best, “one study found that only 15% reported sleeping 8 1/2 hours on school nights.” An insufficient amount of sleep can also cause students to forget to do their work, and cause them to be more aggressive towards their teachers and peers.

The National Sleep Foundation also stated that when the National Science Foundation (NSF) conducted a poll about depressive moods and sleep, “about half (46%) of the adolescents surveyed had a depressive mood score of 10 to 14, 37% had a score of 15 to 19, and 17% had a score of 20 to 30; these scores are considered low, moderate and high respectively.” Teens that had a score of 20-30 were more likely to take longer to fall asleep during a school night.

Freshman Olivia Atadero also pointed out, “Students use all of their energy in the first quarter so they can start off the year well, and then they have no motivation for the second quarter.” Other students agree with Olivia, because nobody wants to start of the year with bad grades that they will have to work to bring up for the rest of the year. Teens feel that because they did well in the first quarter, they can slack off in the second quarter and they will still be fine for the rest of the year.

This downfall of motivation causes grades to go down. As the school year goes on and Battlefield enters the second quarter, students should try to keep their grades up and to stay motivated.