How do you manage your time when you have a fully booked after-school week? The Marching Band at Silver Creek High School has numerous members who are involved in many other extracurriculars. There are many students that can learn from others on how they manage their time during the school year.

At Silver Creek High School, the Marching Band members have been very involved in after-school activities during the 2023 season. A way that students can work on managing their time is by working on their homework before and after practice.
Students have different extracurricular activities after school, including sports and possibly clubs, and marching band could be a factor affecting their schedules.

Silver Creek 9th grader Tammi Vo, clarinet player, participates not only in marching band but also in gymnastics, which takes up much of her time. Vo has gymnastics every other day that she does not have Marching Band practice after school, meaning that her schedule is packed. With this packed schedule, she has had to miss a few Marching Band related events.

“I have to make sure I can miss gymnastics for it because gymnastics practice would be that same day,” Vo said. “So I’ve had to miss a few small games like the Powder Puff game because I couldn’t miss that many gymnastics practices.”

Even though Vo has missed a few minor things, she still loves the Marching Band and the community that surrounds it. She also believes that while it’s a lot, people can and should do as many extracurricular activities as they wish.

“I think that it just depends on when those extracurricular activities are and how much of your time they take. For example, gymnastics and marching band are after school and they both take the full after-school time because they’re a couple of hours each,” Vo expressed.

She believes that people should be able to do as much as they want, but also keep in mind how much time you might have after school. Vo expresses how she loves to do Marching Band and how it benefits her.

“My extracurriculars are tailored to my interests, so I get a lot of joy and excitement doing them,” said Vo. “Gymnastics and marching band also benefit my physical health, as I stay active and get lots of outside time.”

In the same boat as Vo, 12th grader Savannah Collier has also been packed with many extra-curricular activities. Collier participates in the Marching Band, basketball, and Civil Air Patrol. She also partakes in a dyslexia ambassador program with the school district, and on top of all that she has work! Even with all of the extra-curricular activities, Collier still loves to do marching band because being a part of the Silver Creek Marching Band brings her joy and she loves it.

“I love the humanity, I love the people in it, I love my section, I love everyone around it,” Collier said. “[Marching Band] is always super positive and it’s not something you can get out of, once you’re in it it’s kind of like a cult in the best way possible.”

Collier is passionate about being in Marching Band and being able to work with all the other students and teachers in that community that kids get sucked into by joining. With all the commitments that come with doing more than one outside-of-school activity, there comes a common problem, how to handle all the homework.

“I don’t have too much time for school work, so then I try to cram a bunch of stuff into my free block that I have in the mornings to get stuff done because I’m just so busy after school,” Collier says.

Another way to stay on top of things is to prioritize what needs to get done first and when is more important. Jeremy Salgado, an A-wing teacher at Silver Creek, had good ideas. Another way to help with time management is owning a calendar.

“If they don’t have a calendar, they need to get one,” said Salgado.

Salgado was very enthusiastic about telling students to use a calendar because of how much it will help when finding time to do things. Salgado talks about how they believe that kids are doing well when it comes to time management and how they are handling it.

“They are really aware of the time they are using, the time they are taking, they are probably using calendars a lot, at least I did,” said Salgado.

Salgado believes that Marching Band students are excellent at time management because of how many other things they have to balance on their plate. Another method that Salgado uses is giving an activity twice as long as you might think it will take. This means that if something were to take 30 minutes then mark it for taking 1 hour.

“If you have the time, do as much as you can, if you enjoy something, go out and do it,” Collier says.

Although time management in Marching Band is sometimes a struggle, the students who are in the Silver Creek Marching band love the community and the people who you get to surround yourself with.