Imagine dedicating yourself to a craft that centered around your school day but you also had to spend twenty to twenty five hours a week or 3-4 hours a day after school working on your craft. This is what our Student Performers have to deal with, day after day, performance week after performance week, year after year.

There has been word going around since practically the dawn of time that “Student Athletes should receive less homework than the rest of the school population,” but I think that our Student Performers are in more desperate need of this luxury. And there is a buzz going around in the North Hills Performance Community that provides a strong backing for this argument. Student Performers should receive less homework than students who do not participate in these activities, or to be allowed an extended amount of time to complete assignments. Student performers create a large percentage of North Hills’ population and when all of us are tired and stressed out from schoolwork, a wave of lethargy enters the halls of North Hills High. There is no time in the day for students to live in a remotely healthful lifestyle while trying to complete their work. Students are not always able to handle everything on their plates, with school, rehearsal, even more rehearsal, sometimes including a sport in their activities, an after-school job, Performing (In the Marching Band’s case, most nights in the fall), eating (literally at any spare moment), and having a good night’s sleep. People expect Student Performers to hold a high academic standard from the performers that preceded them. This holds a high amount of pressure to hold the highest GPA they can.

In fact, studies show that students in the Performing Arts receive a higher average GPA than students in any other subject voluntarily studied in school. According to the College Board (You know… the company that gives us our SAT’s each year), in 2012; students in the Performing Arts had the highest GPA out of all 6 Subjects studied, (Math, English and Language Arts, Foreign Languages, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences and History, and most importantly the Performing Arts.) Females had a higher GPA than females in other subjects, with an average GPA of 3.82. On the other hand, Males in the arts average GPA’s were higher than males in other subjects GPA’s by a very large margin. With an average GPA of 3.66 compared to the 3.2’s and 3.3’s in other subjects. This gives Students in the Arts the highest combined average GPA of 3.75. Students in the Arts and Music program are earning higher marks, which means that we are better understanding the material given to us, which means we don’t exactly need homework. Student Performers are usually running on fumes within the 2^nd or 3^rd week of school and it is time to take a stand.

Being a part of the Performing Arts (Theatre Especially) means that you have to show up to school to come to rehearsals. According to the American Association for Theatre Education, “Students that are considered to be at high risk for dropping out of High School cite their Performing Arts classes as their motivations for staying in school.” Also they say that, “Students who participate in the Arts are 3 times more likely to win an award for school attendance than those who do not.”

Now don’t get us wrong…We love our crafts very much and would not give them up for the world, but Teachers, the students of the Band, the Choirs, the Marching Band, the Orchestra, and the Drama Club implore you to at least consider the requests given. We ask that you think of it, for the desperate Students of our Performing Arts Program are looking for a sanctuary from the confines of school and its horrors.