It’s the most obnoxious and ear grating sound in the morning: the alarm clock.

It says 6 a.m. You went to bed six and a half hours ago. Why? Because homework, that’s why. The only reason you’re getting up at the crack of dawn and not sleeping in for another hour is because of zero period.

Not everyone has a zero period, but many honors students and athletes do and early release just doesn’t take into account those packed schedules.

When I’m in my zero, there’s always people with their heads on their desks still half asleep.

This is why we need late start. It would be great to start school when the sun is up for zero period students even if it’s only twice a month on Wednesdays.

School starts way too early, especially zero period. And within our district, our zero starts the second earliest and almost all of our periods are longer than other high schools.

Compared to Troy and Sunny Hills from zero to sixth period, we are in class the longest.

Troy has a late start program. And Sunny Hills, Sonora, and Buena Park all have late start and early release. Fullerton and La Habra are the only schools in the district that don’t have early release. If half of our district has both late start and early release, then why can’t we?

Another reason we should have late start is for our athletes. Some might prefer early release since they get to practice earlier and leave earlier, but others like me are not so fortunate. Whenever we have early release for basketball, my coach makes us practice without any lunch in our system.

Sophomore football player Andrew Flores prefers late start over early release.

“Early release only works for the people that don’t have sports. But if we had late start then it would work for both sides: people that have sports and people that don’t,” said Flores.

With early release there is no lunch, but with late start athletes would be able to have lunch everyday before practice or going to a game.

“Late start would be beneficial for some students. It’s an extra hour of sleep that could be used to catch up on homework,” said IB student Khang Vinh.

Not everyone is on a sports team, but everyone is a student. Late start would benefit not just a select few, but everyone by giving an extra hour of sleep after a long night of homework and studying.

In previous years, the teachers met during Friday’s long lunch, but this year the teachers have their staff meetings on early out days. Instead of teachers having to stay hours after school is let out, the meetings could be moved to Wednesday mornings before school starts with late start.

Some people prefer early release since they can leave early and are able to go out for lunch wherever they want.

While we have early release right now, there are still many holes in the system. There is no such thing as a perfect solution, but there is definitely one that can benefit more and more students. The administration should look into the possibility of adopting a late start, as many students, including myself, would love to shut the alarm clock up, even if it’s only an hour.