Junior Hannah Hykes struggles to wake up on Monday morning for school, only to see that her room isn’t flooded with sunlight. She blinks and looks at the clock, 7:15 am. She thinks to herself, ‘Something feels off, my room is dark and I am oddly tired. But I still have to go to school in 45 minutes. What is going on?’ A flash of realization comes over her face, ‘Daylight savings.’

March 13th, early Sunday morning, everyone’s clocks went from 1:59 am to 3:00 am. As the day shifts back an hour, students are starting to feel the effects of daylight savings. The sun sets at 7:00 pm as opposed to 6:00 pm, and 6:00 am feels as dark as midnight.  

Hykes elaborates on her experience with the daylight savings time change, reflecting on what she likes and does not like about the hour shift. “It has been a lot more difficult to wake up the past few days, and getting up in the dark makes it even worse,” Hykes comments, “however I do like that it’s lighter later so I can enjoy more evening activities while it’s still light. Plus, it’s only a couple of painful mornings and then I get used to it.”

As an Athlete with long practice hours, Junior Ruby Srinivasan has found more appreciation for the longer light hours. As a rower, she has had to come back on land early so she is not on the water while it’s dark. “With the time change, I get to stay out on the water longer. It’s been really great having long rows instead of docking early and having to do work on land,” she adds. A lot of athletes at CdM feel similarly, happy that they can end their practices and still have time to watch the sun set. 

Despite the newfound difficulty of waking up at what feels like the crack of dawn, both Hykes and Srinivasan are grateful for the time change. “I’m really happy it’s changed,” Srinivasan says, “I think daylight savings is a real turning point in the year to me and I love having it be lighter out later.”