Time to Party! by Sara

Time to Party! by Sara - May 2021 Scholarship Essay

“Did you finish your homework first?” is a question that I’ve heard more than to my liking throughout my high school career. When prompted with this question, I often contemplate whether or not to tell the truth. I always think to myself, homework can wait but life experiences cannot. Holding this mentality is what led me to encounter the academic challenge of balancing study time to social time.
At the primary stages of this problem, I found myself saying an enthusiastic yes to almost every social event that I was invited to. Whenever I told my parents about my plans, they would ask in some variation “Is your homework done?”. Knowing what the outcome would be if I said no, I repeatedly lied and told them I was caught up on schoolwork and homework. My mentality shifted to focus on social events and constantly made me wonder when I would be able to hang out with my friends next. I would tell myself “time to party!” in hopes that I was going to convince myself I deserved to be there instead of completing my schoolwork.
However, this mindset did not stick with me for long as my grades started to regress. I was perfectly happy in the moments that I shared with my friends but as soon as I returned home, I felt overwhelmed by the amount of work that I left uncompleted. I struggled internally with this sense of balance of work and school for most of my sophomore year of high school. I did not want to miss out on social opportunities that would allow me to create memories and meet new people. Waiting on homework did not appear as major as it was because I quickly fell behind in my understanding of class content in addition to the uncompleted homework assignments.
From this challenge, I learned that I have to motivate myself to have a somewhat equal balance of work and play. If I was caught up on the class material and assignments, then I wouldn’t feel the anxiety of homework following me when I made plans with friends. I also discovered that the balance brought me a more focused time to study because I knew that I would complete my work and have time to spare for social events. I was finally able to exclaim “time to party!” in a way that would allow me to focus on making memories while also keeping up on my school work.