The students of Carnegie are all very familiar with being on a time crunch, especially because of schoolwork. It’s safe to say that every one of us at one point or another had to pull an all-nighter because of homework or studying. Oftentimes we don’t have time to do other things we’d like to do, for example, extracurricular activities and hobbies.
Shanti Majumder, a junior at CVHS maintains good grades in school, makes time for his hobbies, and balances time for three extracurriculars he is doing: World Quest, debate, and cross country.
Considering that the cross country season just ended and there are no longer any activities for cross country, Majumder doesn’t have to do anything for cross country.
“For a while now I have had a lot more free time…cross country is in the morning so it’s before everything. So it’s mostly about I’m just getting way more sleep,” Majumder said.
Although he isn’t using this time to do other things he may enjoy, he’s getting more sleep which is always beneficial to health and productivity, thus making him a more efficient student. To balance school and cross country, Majumder had to get his schoolwork done as early as possible in order to get more sleep on days he had practice. To do this Majumder had to get home and do work quickly. Other challenges that the cross-country season brought include injuries. Majumder endured ankle injuries and shin splints throughout his cross-country career. These obstacles hindered his performance in cross country.
“I’ve been injured in the past, I’ve gotten like ankle soreness. My hip was hurt, I had some shin splints that was like last year season” said Majumder.
Expanding from cross country, the most pressing extracurricular for Majumder right now is debate. Majumder says he is having a tournament coming up next week, and then another one the week after that. This puts Majumder under a greater workload because, on top of completing the work that junior year entails, he must also practice and study for the two upcoming debate tournaments.
”I try to do like an hour 30 Every single day, because I’m a little behind on that,” he said.
Something Majumder regards as important is spending time for yourself. It helps even more when you are stressed. Despite all the extracurricular activities and assignments Majumder has, he strives to spend maybe an hour relaxing, playing video games, going on a jog, etc.
“That’s like leaving time for myself, maybe like an hour each day, play some Fortnite, you know, get some wins, go running like there’s always that take time for yourself.”
One of his favorite things to do, without a doubt, is play Fortnite. He considers himself one of the greatest Fortnite players at CVHS and tries to set aside some time every week to spend time playing the game with his friends. He finds this activity rejuvenating and relaxing. Playing Fortnite also helps take off the stress from all the assignments and extracurriculars.
“I mean, every week I try to play like 12 hours. At least that’s not that much before during the pandemic during summer. It was like, three, four hours every day.”
Majumder says playing Fortnite was a “canon event.“ Every day after school since his parents didn’t allow him to play since it was rated teen, he would go to the library to download Fortnite, wait till it installed, then play for an hour before going back home. On top of having a relaxing effect, Fortnite is also a part of his childhood. Majumder believes that doing something you like just like how he plays Fortnite can really help take some stress off of your shoulders.
In conclusion, using Majumder as an example, the best way to make time for yourself, extracurriculars, and school, is to space your time apart. Don’t spend too much time on one thing. Each night, he does homework, works on extracurriculars, and takes time for himself.
