Holding hands, walking down the hallway together, kissing and showing signs of true love is how most AHS couples like to begin their day. There is not a hallway in which a couple is not showing public displays of affection. Although these couples may seem happy and satisfied with their relationship, they may sometimes forget about their achievement in school.

For some couples, their relationship comes before school. For junior Casey Pyne, his grades dropped dramatically. “In some of my classes teachers were handing out our progress reports for the interim and I noticed that my grades had dropped a lot,” said Pyne. “It was really difficult to raise those grades back up. I found myself staying after a lot.”

Many students find themselves in those sticky situations. They get their interims and are immediately shocked at how low their grade is, eventually striving to get those grades back up. “I was doing horribly!” said senior Kia Pearce. “The relationship had distracted me from my studies.”

Though some students’ grades are not affected directly, when students are late to class, the teacher is allowed to create consequences.  “It didn’t really change my grades much, but I was definitely late to class a lot more.” said junior Cihan Gul.

For those who are able to focus on their schoolwork and maintain a successful relationship on the side, positive outcomes are achieved. “My grades weren’t affected because my boyfriend was really supportive and he always wanted me to do well,” said sophomore Kim Rowland.

In some relationships, both of the people get the benefit. For freshman Kyle Jamison, he was able to maintain an equal amount of time with his girlfriend and doing schoolwork. “Dating never made a difference because my girlfriend always helps me study.”

In many cases he said, relationships and schoolwork are not affected at all. Junior Matt Klima said, “My relationship at the time didn’t affect my grades at all, because I stayed focused and did my homework and staying up late to converse with my girlfriend at the time wasn’t an issue because I managed my time and made sure I slept on time.”

Then, there are the students who have a hard time keeping a successful and fulfilling relationship while in high school, and just choose not to date. High school can be a very stressful time for students. With the large workload and curriculum to follow, having time to spend with others can be quite difficult.