Managing both schoolwork and extracurricular activities is quite a tough job, but it certainly is not impossible. At Westwood Regional Jr./Sr. High School, there are numerous students that are enrolled in either Honors/A.P. classes. Some of them also play sports, are part of the band or choir, or work to earn money for college.

Academics play a huge role in a student’s life because education is the key to success. It is expected that students enrolled in either Honors/A.P. classes are diligent towards academic success and spend about an hour or more towards completing homework for these classes.

Senior Cynthia Smith is currently enrolled in 3 A.P. classes, including A.P. Spanish, A.P. Biology, and A.P. World History. She said, “I usually get a lot of homework in all of my classes and my most difficult class this year would be A.P. Biology. I try to focus more on one subject at a time and then try to work from there.”

Most students that have to balance extracurricular activities and jobs along with schoolwork stay up late to complete all of their assignments. Balancing both school lives with their personal lives is a very challenging task, but most students are able to do it.

Junior Rachel Steinberg is a dancer and is enrolled in A.P. Calculus AB and in two Honors classes: English III Honors and Spanish IV Honors.

She said, “I usually have dance four out of the five days during the week and my dance instructors really work me hard. There have been times where I have been dancing for two or more hours nonstop. But, I still have to manage schoolwork along with dance. So to do this, I stay up till late night completing all of my homework. A good thing is that I don’t feel tired at night.”

While these classes are challenging, Westwood students are proving themselves to be up to the task.  “A.P. Chemistry was my hardest class last year. I had Mrs. Riar as my A.P. Chemistry teacher and she really helped me and my class do well on the A.P. Exam. As a matter of fact, we all got 4’s or 5’s on the exam,” said Smith.

All of the A.P. teachers of Westwood Regional Jr. /Sr. High School are extremely dedicated to the success of all their AP students and continuously strive to provide efficient learning for students.

Smith says, “Last year, Mrs. Riar made us create a group chat in which we all were able to communicate with each other along with Mrs. Riar. In our group chat, we asked each other questions that we had trouble with and we worked as a team.” Active communication between students in an A.P. class makes the class even more enriching and easier to attain success in.

As the school year progresses, students may find themselves stressed out or overwhelmed while trying to balance school and their extracurricular activities, but it appears that these classes are worth the time and effort for both the students and teachers.