On Friday, Feb. 11, Bonita Vista High’s (BVH) school newspaper, the Crusader, published their very first print issue since the pandemic. It was a monumental experience seeing that it was our “comeback” issue. In what felt like forever, we finally gave out physical papers to the BVH community after approximately two years of publishing content through our online website. However, in order for us to complete all components of the paper, staff members dedicated time after school to attend late labs and go through sleepless nights during finalization night.

As a member of the Editorial Board (EB), it was my duty to finalize articles and page designs of the sections I was heading. For the issue, I headed both the Opinion and Sports sections of the paper, which meant having to balance twice the amount of responsibilities. 

Tuesday was the staff’s finalization night, which meant that all four EB members must upload the final PDFs of the sections they were managing. We must have all pages uploaded by the next day at around 8 a.m. because our advisor needed to email all PDFs to the printing company. With this, the printing company could have the physical newspapers ready to be picked up by Friday, which was when all newspaper staff passed out the newspapers. 

Unfortunately, a common occurrence during finalization night is for the section editors and EB members to stay up late because not everyone on staff is able to meet their deadlines. For the past three years that I’ve been on staff, the latest I’ve stayed up was around 3 a.m. I would either finish my own pages or finalize the page designs of my page editors. Never did I think I would surpass that time, that was until this issue’s finalization night.

On Tuesday night, I finalized all the articles and page designs for the Opinion section at around midnight. On the other hand, the Sports section struggled to be finalized at an earlier time. Due to several complications and time mismanagement, the Sports section editors and I stayed up very late completing the pages. When I say very late, I wasn’t exaggerating; the clock read 6 a.m. on Wednesday morning when we finished.

I was on a Zoom call with my Sports editors to serve as a support system whenever they had trouble navigating InDesign—software we use to complete pages. I was also on a FaceTime call with one of my closest friends and a fellow EB member for moral support, encouraging each other that we would complete this task. She was also on a Zoom call with her respective section editors; they stayed up very late finishing pages, too. 

At around 6 a.m., my mom went to my room to check up on me and asked if I was going to school or not. I shook my head and let myself be overcome by the comfort of my bed. 

After uploading the final PDFs, I slept and then woke up at around 10 a.m. for a brief moment to eat breakfast. I then went back to sleep and ultimately woke up at around 5 in the afternoon. Going to sleep was a fulfilling act, it felt like winning a competition—I won a battle against myself where I fought hard to stay awake and resist from closing my eyes to sleep. 

The day after finalization, I returned to school feeling accomplished, but most importantly, rejuvenated. However, upon my return, I learned that my absence from school the day before was described as a selfish act—that I didn’t prioritize my role as an EB member because I missed a vital portion of the class the next day. 

Although staying up late to finalize pages was a difficult experience, I learned an important lesson: I must prioritize sleep at all costs, regardless of whether it’s deemed as a self-interested act by others. Choosing to sleep was an act of self-care and self-love; it meant putting myself first. I prioritized the entire publication by choosing to stay up late because it meant ensuring we had no blank pages. So I thought, isn’t it fair to put myself first and regain the sleep I lost?

Lack of sleep is a nationwide epidemic. Based on the surveys conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, “at least 40 million Americans suffer from over 70 different sleep disorders and 60 percent of adults report having sleep problems a few nights a week or more.” 

Furthermore, according to the Sleep Foundation, sleep is an essential function that allows for people’s bodies and minds to recharge, resulting in them feeling refreshed and alert when they wake up. The Sleep Foundation furthers that “An insufficient amount of sleep can lead to serious repercussions. Some studies have shown sleep deprivation leaves people vulnerable to attention lapses, reduced cognition, delayed reactions, and mood shifts.” Choosing to go to sleep meant avoiding these complications. 

When confronted with the options of choosing sleep or another activity; I implore the BVH community to choose sleep because it means upholding one’s health and well-being. Choosing sleep means choosing to put oneself first. And prioritizing oneself means offering oneself the same compassion and understanding that one does to other people.