From the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 3:45 p.m., all high school students and staff spend their time on the Annette M. and Theodore N. Lerner Family Upper School Campus teaching and learning. But once the bell rings indicating the end of the school day, everyone makes use of their time differently.

Depending on their commitments and extracurricular activities, people’s after-school routines can largely differ from one another, although many of them also overlap in more ways than one. 

Grace McMillan

High School Jewish Text Department chair Grace McMillan sticks with the same usual schedule every day after work. 

Once the bell rings, McMillan is not one to rush out of the building. Rather, she takes time after school to attend faculty meetings and tutor students. Once she completes that, she does some work and responds to emails before heading home at around 6 p.m.

“I do like it when I feel like I’ve gotten work done after school. That’s very satisfying.” McMillan said “But I like going home. I like being able to put my feet up and I like being able to see my husband.”

From this point on in her evening, McMillan doesn’t check her email or other work-related sites, officially wrapping her work-day up. After arriving home from school, McMillan changes out of her work clothes and settles in with her cats while watching the news hour and eating dinner. Then, when her husband is done with his work, they watch “Jeopardy” together.

To wrap up their evening, McMillan and her husband allocate time to housekeeping such as setting up for the morning and feeding their cats. Following this, they head to bed at around 8:30 to ensure that they are both well-rested for the next day.

“As I have gotten older, I have realized how important sleep is. And it is really important for me to be able to be done with my workday by 6 p.m. or 6:30 p.m.” McMillan said. “And I wish that students could be done with their workdays by 6:30 p.m. because I think it’s a lot healthier.”

Gloria Jeruchim

While some members of the CESJDS community prioritize working immediately after the school day ends, others prefer a period of relaxation once they arrive home. Freshman Gloria Jeruchim spends her afternoons relaxing and unwinding from her day at school. Once she arrives home right after school, she takes off her shoes and spends some time on her phone. After that, she does her homework and studies for upcoming assessments for about an hour.

Once she has completed all of her work, she uses the rest of her evening to relax and unwind by showering, eating dinner and calling her friends. 

“I feel very satisfied once I [have] finished my homework,” Jeruchim said. “I like the feeling of just being done with it and then being able to shower and then just talk to my friends.”

Along with calling her friends, Jeruchim watches some television before heading to bed. Recently, her top pick has been “Hannah Montana.” Jeruchim then concludes her night by getting ready for bed in hopes of going to sleep early.

Jonah Berman

Teachers’ after-school routines might look a bit different from that of a student. One example of this is in junior Jonah Berman’s daily routine, as he takes part in extracurriculars along with his usual schoolwork. 

Immediately after the bell rings, Berman heads out of the back doors to prepare for cross country. Almost every day, Berman spends about an hour and a half running with his friends and his fellow teammates.

“I get to do it [Cross Country] with my friends. When I’m out of school, it’s just me and it’s not as nice,” Berman said. “It’s way more fun to do things with your friends.”

Once Cross Country has ended, Berman and his two brothers go home. The first thing Berman does once he arrives at his house is take a shower and then go eat dinner. After this, he spends some time working on assignments and studying for his classes before heading to bed.

“I enjoy the consistency of a routine because it’s just nice to know what I’m doing,” Berman said.