Raphael Lausa knows how difficult it can be to get work done on a school night.

“There are some nights where I get home at like 9 p.m, and it’s really, really hard to get everything done without losing sleep,’’ Lausa said over Snapchat.

Lausa is involved with a lot of activities at Elk Grove High School. He plays in the symphony and chamber orchestras. He competes on the boys swimming and diving and boys volleyball teams. Oh, and he manages the girls volleyball team in the fall this school year. He’s involved in a few honors-level and Advanced Placement (AP) classes, and takes a few regular electives and gym.

Lausa, however, isn’t alone. Sure, many EGHS students take advantage of the opportunities the school and district offer, such as seasonal sports, clubs, the school play, musical and much more. But many students express how difficult the school-extracurricular balance can be, considering how it puts them to work, both in-class and outside of school.

Honors and AP classes typically carry a greater workload for students, as they’re considered college-track classes. Mix that in with trying to get involved with extracurricular activities, and some students have had to adapt with highly-scheduled lives and grandiose amounts of work on their plates.

Lausa said he manages his work with a planner or assignment notebook, calling its usage, “unbelievably helpful.” He also said managing work is a never-ending process which he experiments with a lot.

Sophomore Maryjo Coleman is in the same boat. Coleman has all honors and AP classes. She is involved in a myriad of activities, such as speech team, theatre, math team and track.

“Sometimes I won’t get home until 9:30 p.m because of a few activities,’’ Coleman said. “I end up doing some homework when I get home, then wake up around 4:45 a.m to finish the rest of what I didn’t do.”

While some students manage their activities with lots of school work they have, some can manage extracurricular activities and clubs easily, depending on how difficult their classes are.

“I have almost no struggle managing work at all since I’m in relatively easy classes,’’ junior Marc Angelo said over Snapchat.

Angelo has all regular classes, with the exception of Honors Spanish 3. He, like the sophomores, get involved in many activities at school, such as debate, speech team, scholastic bowl and tech crew.

To help combat the tough school-extracurricular balance, Angelo said that schools should make Wednesdays non-attendance days to allow students the time to finish whatever work they have from their classes.

“If that isn’t possible, the only solution I can think of is extending the mastery lab hours after school from 4:30 p.m to 6:15 p.m,” Angelo said.

As far as homework goes, some students said only some of what they’re assigned is beneficial while other homework they get isn’t really needed.

“Some classes could help people with which career you want to go into, and help you with college,” Coleman said. “But, there’s other classes that wouldn’t really matter if you had a C in even 15 years from now.”

Like Coleman, Lausa said that he could see additional time spent toward doing those subjects that might require more practice or interest.