Do you get more homework during the week or on weekends?

• ” I definitely get more homework during the week. Specifically, on Wednesdays. They always slam me during the middle of the week. I have math homework pretty much every day. My weekend homework is usually pretty light, like working on a small math lesson on my own.” – Freddy Ortiz, Junior.
• “I would say I probably get more homework on the weekdays. Usually on Monday, since it’s the start of the week. I get a lot of homework in English and Pre Calc.” – Jesse Zamudio, Junior

Are you taking overload?

• “Yes, I am overloading with medical terminology. I don’t struggle all that much with getting my work done because of the overload. Either way, I just see the homework as a task to get done. I like having overload.” – BreYanna Kelly, Junior
• “I’m only taking overload so that I could have a study hall in the little theater for a whole period instead of having to go to lunch/advisory. I eat in there and do all of my homework. I have it 5th period so it’s a perfect break in the middle of my day to get things done.” – Anna Polacek, Junior

Are you in any blended classes?

• “Yeah, i’m taking blended conditioning second period. We meet Tuesdays and Wednesdays. We have to get 60,000 steps a week. We have to be in our target heart rate zone for at least 60 minutes each week. I stay home and sleep in on the days I don’t have class. I usually fall asleep in class when I have to come second period, but when I don’t have to come I feel a lot more energized and can participate in my day better.” – Gisele Perez, Junior
• “Yes, I am taking blended conditioning freshman hour, meaning I do not have an 8th period. We also meet Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I feel like getting up for 1st period makes the whole rest of my day drag. I feel like it’s too early for me to properly function. I actually liked having periods 2-8 better. However, getting out earlier does give me more time to do homework.” – Jocelyn Ochoa, Junior

Do you work/how often do you work?

• “I work at Barnes and Noble. I work about 20 to 25 hours a week. I’m there for at least 6 hour shifts, usually from like 4-10. I work both weekdays and weekends. I put away books, I cashier, I look up books for people, I sell books to people, etc.” – Alexis Schofield, Senior
• “I work at GoodWill. I started around a month ago. I work two days a week and every other weekend. I’m a cashier and I put away clothes, along with restocking the shelves. My shifts are usually 4 hours during the week and 5 hours on the weekends.” – Gisele Perez, Junior

Do you struggle with having a job and getting time to do school?

• “I really don’t struggle handling them both, actually. In my school day, I have allowed myself time to do my work. I didn’t overload myself with classes so that I would have the opportunity to work. I need to work because I need money for college, but I also just love books. I would work at barnes and noble even if I only made $2 an hour.” – Alexis Schofield, Senior
• “Now that I only work on the weekends for roughly about 18 hours, it is a lot easier to balance school and work. However, before I made this arrangement with my boss, I was working 36 hours a week. When that was happening, I would get no work done. I would have to stay up extremely late trying to get it done, but usually ended up giving up on school work to focus on work instead.” – Jesse Zamudio, Junior

Do you attend school sporting events? Does it make you feel a certain type of way about your school?

• “I’ve gone to most home Football games, and even some away. I haven’t really been to many other sporting events, except for one soccer game. I feel like people go to football games for the experience. It gives them a sense of pride for their school.” – Allie Malleris, Junior
• “I don’t really go to the sporting events at school. I’m not a big fan of sports, to be honest.” – Melina Medina, Junior

Do you attend after school productions? Does it make you feel a certain type of way about your school?

• “It’s kind of been my family tradition to go to all of West’s plays. My parents have been doing it for like 15 years. We always go to dinner before. Every play I have ever seen has been really good, and really beautifully put together. Seeing how talented some of the students are in this school makes me feel proud to be attending Joliet West.” – Scott Tucci, Junior
• “I am involved in a lot of the productions at the school. These people have immense talent and I wish more people would come and show their support. However, I am not involved in the spring musical and I know it makes me a hypocrite, but I usually am not able to attend that production. It always falls on a very busy weekend for me.” – Anna Polacek, Junior

Do you have any time to do non school related things?

• “Despite what I have been told about Junior year, I really haven’t been given a very harsh workload. Going to school so many hours a day makes it a little hard to do the things that I want to do, but I usually have a lot of time after school because I don’t really get that much homework.” – Scott Tucci, Junior
• “Not really. I’m in a ton of school activities like rifle team, drill, math team and even a job. It’s extremely stressful and I rarely ever have any time to myself to do the other things I might’ve wanted to do.” – Melina Medina, Junior

Do you feel safe at school?

• “Not really. I feel like the school does not tell us anything that is going on. I feel like our school cares more about mental health than threats or anything like that. When Central had a really bad gun threat, our school had no measures set up to protect us. We will constantly have police outside, but we never know why or what’s going on.” – Nicole Pizur, Junior
• “Yes and no. On one hand, there is a lot of fighting and we have a LOT of student which is always hazardous. Usually after school shootings happen I get pretty nervous. On the other hand, I know our school shooting threats are all talk so I’m not really that scared. Even though i’m not scared, I can still acknowledge that West is not a very safe school.” – Allie Malleris, Junior