![Reaching out. Christopher Lesh, student at Central Catholic High School, serves ice cream during the event on March 2, 2025, at the Portland waterfront. Central Catholic was just one of the schools that sent student volunteers out to cook, prepare, dish, and serve food. Interact club’s co-president Rachel Gerber, junior, plated the food during the event. “I like how direct the contact is,” Gerber said. “You’re there [and] you’re just doing something good. It’s simple, it’s easy, you can feel good about it.”](https://wlhsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/interact-1-edited-1200x744.jpg)
Having a job and being an editor at my publication are just two time-consuming responsibilities I have, which don’t even include time I spend on regular coursework for school. I’ve always struggled with ways I could manage my time while participating in school and extracurricular activities.
I especially struggle when it comes to how I create a balance between school and work. On one hand, I have the future controlled by how hard I try to study. Meanwhile, on the other hand, I have a pathway to adulthood and more career opportunities with the experience I gain from my current job, which also allows me to earn more money and spend it on goods and services I might be interested in or need for school and journalism.
During my economics class, we learned about opportunity cost: if I do one thing, I’ll miss out on another. So, if I decide to go to work and make money, I miss out on time to do homework and study to improve my grades, and vice versa.
In its own way, money is the main motivation for both school and work. Although the experience for future jobs is great, money is a very helpful aspect, both in real life and with school as well. With my income, I’m able to provide for myself: I can buy food, school supplies, or indulge in things like Pokemon cards, soccer jerseys, and video games.
Despite the benefit of money and experience, it’s a grueling task to manage two big responsibilities such as these. Time management is a skill that can take a while to master, but I’ve found that it’s very customizable.
Currently, I use the combination of a physical personal planner to schedule and keep track of my events and homework dates, alongside the website Trello, in which I create cards and tabs with checklists and deadlines to effectively manage my work and track my progress. I also use Google Calendar to track the days I’m available, the days I work, and other important things like appointments or extracurricular activities like tennis or club meetings. West Linn also offers a tutoring center after school, which I use to help me study for tests or get the help I need to understand an assignment or unit.
Those three combined are just small planning sheets, but it makes tracking myself and how far along I am on tasks so much easier. Even if there’s a moment when I have schedule conflicts between work and tennis practice, or my homework getting in the way of my chores, or errands getting in the way of hanging out with my friends, having these planning strategies helps me to be able to see my schedule and therefore prepare myself for it. It’s a way to make managing school and work easier, and even fun.
Although it took a while for me to get into a comfortable spot where I feel like I can achieve what I want to, it wasn’t impossible. For some, it might come naturally. To others, it might take time. But as long as the effort to improve is present, you’re golden.
