Students balancing part time work with school

5:30 am.

For most students, it’s a ghost hour — a time where everyone is either still asleep or hitting the snooze button on their alarms.

Landyn Backstrom keeps his alarm clock across the room and says he sets “10 to 15 alarms,” but still somehow gets up to turn them off right before crawling back into bed. Cadyen Bass said he relies on “around six or seven alarms” just to get up and get moving in the morning. Even most students who set one to three alarms say the hardest part of their days are before the day even starts.

“Simply getting up and out of bed,” Bass said when asked what challenges him most in the morning. Richards agreed, saying the hardest part of his mornings is “getting out of bed.”

Even with the early mornings, school is still only the first part of their day. 

“My day doesn’t end when school ends,” Jacob Fisher said.

After their classes end, most students go home, while other students head straight to work. Several students work in shipping and receiving positions at Gearhead Enterprises in Hudson, including Jacob Fisher, Landyn Backstrom and Cayden Bass, with shifts running anywhere from 1:30 p.m. to as late as 9 p.m., four days a week.

Other students have to learn to juggle customer service jobs at local businesses like Hank’s Bait and Tackle and Hurling Hatchets, while some students even learn how to split their time between working at multiple workplaces such as Mason Peterson. Peterson said balancing two jobs during the school year has become part of his routine.

For Fisher, a senior at Cedar Falls High School, working during the school year is a part of managing his real-life responsibilities that go way past just school.

“Cause I need money,” Fisher said regarding why he works during the school year.

Bass shared a similar reason, saying he works during the school year because he “needs the money.”

By the time these students get home, though it’s been long, the day still isn’t over. Homework, late dinners and preparing for the next morning all push bedtimes back. Most students who work after school said they stay up until at least 11 p.m., with the majority of them not falling asleep until well after midnight.

According to them, caffeine has become a common and big solution for these students who need to juggle late nights and early mornings.

Noah Kerns, a junior who works at Culver’s, said “Monster keeps me going,” which is an energy drink with tons of caffeine.

For many students, motivation comes from focusing on what comes after the long days, by thinking about what keeps them going on days when they are exhausted. Several students looked toward the future.

“By thinking about summer,” Fisher said, while Ben Richards, a senior who works at Discount Tire, said he stays motivated by “thinking about doing the things I like to do after work.”

What many working students say other people don’t realize about their lives is how constant the schedule is.

Fisher, Bass, Richards and Backstrom all agreed they are always busy — before, during and after school.

Working students often say there’s little to no recognition for the long days and late nights that come with balancing school and jobs.

“People don’t realize how full my day is before school and after work,” Bass said.

Fisher added that his schedule stays “busy all the time.”

Still, every morning before most alarms go off, these students get up — knowing their school day is only the beginning.

And tomorrow, when 5:30 a.m. comes again, they’ll do it all over.