Collaboration days are generally seen as a rare blessing to stressed out students. Whether it be a day to catch on homework or finally hangout with friends after endless weeks of hard work, students are typically excited to get a short break from school. A lot of times, however, students are so familiarized with normal school day schedules that they are stumped when collaboration days approach. There is a common dilemma that students have to face: Should you be finishing homework? Or should you take a well-deserved break and go out to eat or watch a movie?

If you asked most kids, they would answer with a mixture of both. Junior Alice Yoon is no different. Interestingly enough, she has her own schedule for collaboration days. She hangs “out with [her] friends from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m….just like any other school day.” Their plans often consist of going out to eat some good food, and then going “ to someone’s house and talking for hours.” However, if it happens to be a “tiring day,” she prefers to just “go home and get some sleep before starting homework.”

Understandably, high school can sometimes get extremely exhausting, so many people take advantage of collaboration days like Alice to catch up on getting much needed rest. Sophomore Dylan Chang describes his collaboration days as “pretty boring.” In his own words specifically, he will “go home and take a four hour nap” and then wake up to complete the day’s assigned homework. After his homework is finished, he’ll “take another nap.” Although sometimes he makes plans with his friends to go to the mall or Boiling Point, Dylan usually spends his collaboration days trying to sleep more.

Similarly, sophomore Yenah Lee regularly uses collaboration days to get some extra sleep. She’ll “finish homework as soon as possible [in order] to sleep early,” or just “take naps to relieve stress.” Still, Yenah says that “sometimes [she goes] out to have a break with some friends.” Frequent places that she might go to after school are ShareTea or Tapioca Express, which are both close to AHS.

The common after school plans of most students for collaboration days consists of getting more rest, finishing homework, and hanging out with their friends—probably the most prevalent option. Collaboration days are very popular to students because it is an opportunity to take a break from hour long classes. What will you be doing the next collaboration day?

Graphic courtesy of ISTOCK.COM