Whether you’re returning to in-person learning or sticking with zoom classes, there’s one thing that Snohomish school district’s reopening means for everyone at GP: the return to a 7:30 AM start time. Different students and staff members have different feelings about this change.

English teacher Kelsey White is excited for classes to start at 7:30 again, as she feels more alert at earlier hours.

“I am a morning person; I am typically awake by 4-4:30 AM – even without an alarm,” White said. “That being said, I also understand that not everyone is like me, so perhaps the 7:30 AM start doesn’t work for everyone in the same way.”

The latter half of White’s statement certainly rings true for senior Cordelia Notbohm, who’s gotten used to waking up at 7:00 AM through this year’s start times of 8:30 AM and 9:30 AM. Even with the new start time, she isn’t ready to abandon her current sleep schedule. Still, she’s not looking forward to her mornings being shrunken down from two and a half hours to only thirty minutes.

“It makes me sad because it is nice having two whole hours to prep, explore canvas to see what we are doing, and have a decent breakfast,” Notbohm said. “That time was golden, and a good way to start the day on the right foot.”

Additionally, Notbohm noted that the 9:30 AM start time, paired with her 7:00 AM wake up time, had a positive impact on her schoolwork.

“Having two and a half hours before school really opened up time that I could spend flexibly to get something done,” Notbohm said. “With only about an hour I found I usually ended up wasting the time on my phone instead of getting something done.”

Although White can’t quite relate to Notbohm’s struggle, with their sleep schedules three hours apart, she still understands it and trusts students to get through it.

“Part of me worries that students will have gotten used to sleeping later and will need time to adjust to the earlier start,” White said. “But I am also a firm believer that students are amazingly adaptable and will rally in order to find success–even at the cost of an extra hour or two of sleep.”