For many Staples students, getting to school for the 7:30 bell is a serious challenge. Many kids roll out of bed as the clock strikes seven, making it to school right in the nick of time. However, others do not follow this lifestyle—in fact, getting to school early seems to be the preferred way to start the day.
“I like the feeling of being one of the only people in Staples for a little while,” says Parker Stakoff ’14, who gets to school at 6:40 every day. “I read the book ‘Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life’ in middle school, and there was a part that described how Jeremy had an hour to himself every night between 11 and 12. He called it the ‘Hour of Jeremy’ where he felt like he was the only one awake anywhere. I kind of wanted to feel like that, so I made my ‘Hour of Parker’ in the morning.”
To fill her hour, Stakoff spends time in the cafeteria, doing homework or playing with Rubik’s Cubes. As someone who is anxious about timing in general, she relaxes by being early.
Like Stakoff, many other students use the morning as time for themselves. Greer Hardy ’14 has a routine that allows her to finish up homework before classes begin at 7:30.
“It gets to the point where there’s just too much, and the math sheet I have due first period could be done in the morning,” she says. “It’s a time to get work done, socialize and get help from other students. It’s all become a process for me, almost as if it’s a ritual. Plus, coming in early means a guaranteed parking spot and dodging traffic.”
For some students, like Ali Thompson ’14, arriving at around 6:55 or 7 is just early enough.
“I’m a bad procrastinator and just straight up bad at Chinese,” she says. “However, my friend Eric Pan ’14 gets there before I do, and he is quite good at Chinese, so he helps me,” she says.
Students are not the only ones beating the morning rush. Math teacher Maggie Gomez leaves her house at 4:45 a.m. and manages to fit in the gym and swimming before arriving at 6:30. “I go in early to get my work done. I have two young children at home, and I do not do school work at home. When I go in early, it’s quiet, and I can get a lot of work done,” she says.
Math teacher Bill Walsh agrees.
“I find generally that, if I do school work when I’m rested, I can do twice as much work in the same amount of time,” he says. Walsh leaves his house around 5:25 a.m. and gets to school a little before 6.
For the few early risers trickling in through the Staples doors each day, they are still outnumbered by those who prefer to cut it close.
“I feel like the people who get to school early don’t end up doing anything productive while I give myself more time to sleep and end up feeling better and more focused throughout the day,” Issy Pieper ’14 says. “Even if it’s only a half hour more, it helps.”
Come morning, students will stick to their habits.
Stakoff says of the early morning peace and quiet she arrives each day: “I can’t really describe why it feels so mystical, but it kind of does.”
