This school year has been filled with all sorts of new adventures. One being the STEM center. The STEM center has been a place on campus to encourage the idea that students with good grades can enjoy the reward of relaxing during school hours.

Some might ask how much can you really relax during school hours. Well maybe ask the students with their feet up, lost in a daydream. Some students at ODA use the STEM center as a place to study, or read, or finish homework, and others use it as a place to catch up on their Zzzz’s.

Especially now, in the second semester, more kids have been using the Stem center to sleep during there free periods. Now why might that be? Could it be they are not getting enough sleep at night because school ends late and practice goes even later? Is it that the students are involved in very physically straining sports after school?

Whatever the cause, these things are all very important but what about  question remains where to catch that sleep? The trick is finding the best couch in the least populated area in the STEM center to sleep.

Now some people have very strong thoughts on where they sleep in the STEM Canter based on couch preference, or location in the stem center. I myself prefer the big circular couch because you can fully extend your limbs and get comfortable even with other people sitting on the couch.

If I’m not mistaken you can fit three maybe four if they are small bodies fully extended.

But that couch is only one spot, so where is everyone else catching up on sleep? I went around campus finding people as they were sleeping, waking them up and asking them questions about there daily routines.

I started off by asking Junior Greta Holland how she was doing today she responded with “I’m tired.” She then went on with her favorite place to sleep on campus and why “ My favorite place to sleep is the STEM Center because i find it the most comfortable and the quietest. I prefer the big round couch but if there are to many people in that area or on the couch then I could suffice with the little couches by pushing them together.”

Some students must wonder what visitors think of our napping during school hours. Well Ill tell you. They think that the students must be working so hard during the school hours and after school hours to get their grades where they want them to be that they just conch out when they get to free period.

Asked what there favorite time of day was to sleep was and Junior Savannah Alario says “It doesn’t really matter the time of day, the only thing that matters is that I get the big round couch because the little couches are too short.”

So the consensus around campus is that there is not a specific time of day that they love to conch out, it just seems like its the spots where they sleep that matters.

Some students use naps during the day to get recharged for there after school activities.

“My favorite place to sleep on campus is the left side of the big circle couch, I really enjoy getting a nice nap in after a long day of classes and it also prepares me for my workouts after school,” says junior Lacey Eaden.

So it seems that the big thing around campus is sleeping in the STEM Center. Its not that the ODA students are lazy, its that they get so much work in during the school day, and during after school athletics and study time that they are just exhausted when they get to there free periods.

This shows the ODA students really care about there studies and sports and strive to get better by achieving more sleep when necessary.

So if you see a student sprawled out on a couch with drool running down her face, be cautious and do not disturb as he/she is hard at work.