One morning, you wake up at 7:00 a.m. to get ready for school. You start to feel extremely sick, but you know you have to be at school to take that math test. You just can’t miss it. What do you do?

I know a number of you have had this conflict in the past. Although you may feel inclined to take that math test with a fever, there are ways to get all work needed to be completed when you are missing a significant amount of school.

Underclassmen, listen up. Three seniors, Libby Grimond, Liz Gaukhman, and Miller Condrack explain why they missed school and what they did to make sure they were on top of everything. As seniors, they are the most experienced, right?

Unfortunately much of this expertise comes from student athletes who have suffered from athletes. The most concussed sport? Cheerleading.

“Last year, I got a concussion from cheer. My doctor told me I could only go to school for half of the day each day. I had to decide which part of the day I wanted to go in each day of the week. Thankfully, ODA has a different schedule each day of the week so I was able to go to different classes each day,” says senior Libby Grimond.

Another reason for school absences is related to other extra curricular activities.

“Over Valentine’s Day Weekend, I went to a four day conference in Baltimore with Robbie, Dana, Rachael, and Caroline. I missed Thursday, Friday, and Monday. Although it was only three days, it felt like a long time. Before I left, I made sure to get all my work done,” says senior Liz Gaukhman.

Some even miss school for academic reasons.

“I missed school for a Washington Homeland Security Conference, something I want to pursue in the future. It was an amazing experience. I learned more there than I could have learned in two full days of school,” says senior Miller Condrack.

These three seniors all had the same advice for keeping up with school when away: plan it out.

If you know you are going to miss a significant amount of school, make sure you talk to your teachers and make sure you know what you are going to miss. Write down everything you will be missing, what you need to make up, and what you have done beforehand to get out of the way.

If you become sick and do not know you will be missing school, send out emails to each of our teachers right away so they know what to send you to get done while you are home.

Even if you are not missing school, planning out each day of the week by logging into Canvas is the best way to stay on top of school and get good grades.

Most importantly: don’t stress out if you have to miss school for any reason.

If you’re sick, it is better to take a day off to recover than to suffer at school. If you have an amazing outside-of-school opportunity related to a personal passion, take it. Just use your tools, communicate, and get your work done as soon as possible.