The new textbooks. The clean classrooms. The crowded Counselor’s Office. I savored each of these sights at the beginning of September, keeping in mind that this would be the last time I would start off the school year at University City High.

I made it a personal goal to appreciate as much as I could about high school before I leap into the unknown, yet exciting, world of college. And, although I’m not as much in a rush to be done with high school as some of my fellow classmates, one thing that I absolutely cannot wait for, is the end of the requirement to be awake and getting ready for school before the sun has gotten a chance to shine through my window.

I understand that some people may enjoy getting things done in the morning. I myself am not one of them. I have never seen myself as a morning-person and I never will. But I honestly don’t believe there can be many crack-of-dawn people out there.

I’ve never quite understood why educational boards have not tried letting school start a bit later in the day in their quest to create the best-educated kids. Why they’ve never cared that more than half of students are half-asleep for the first hours of the school day is beyond me. Students use most of their brainpower when at school, and when that brain is sleep-deprived, the results are bound to be lackluster.

Personally, I can recall numerous times when I have been unable to give my best academic effort because of a lack of sleep. It seems a shame to me that I can’t be tested on my knowledge at a later time of the day, when my brain is actually functioning.

To get to school on time, many students are forced to wake up at 5 a.m., possibly earlier, depending on how much time is needed for transportation. For these students to obtain a healthy eight hours of sleep they have to hit the hay no later than 9 p.m. It is highly unrealistic to believe that high school students are actually able to meet this bedtime, considering all the extracurricular activities and homework that they are responsible for. Oh, and they’d probably like to take a few minutes to have dinner and socialize, too.

If there was one thing I could do for future generations of students at this school, it would be to allot them a couple extra hours of shut-eye in the early hours of the morning. But alas, I don’t have that much power in the world quite yet, and so I’m resigned to giving the following advice to them instead: there’ll be opportunities for later classes in college.

Rest assured, I will make it my top priority to ensure that I get into every afternoon class my future college has to offer. Until then, we’ll all just have to suck it up and invest in some caffeinated beverages.