Missing one day of school at St. Mark’s can put you a week behind on all your school work. So, you can imagine how hard missing a whole month is.

When an elbow to the top of my head handed me my fifth concussion on Nov. 10, I was already multiple tests, quizzes and assignments behind by the beginning of Thanksgiving break.

The highly anticipated week of family time and relaxation became a week-long study session full of headaches and frustration.

Returning back to school on Dec.1, I was ready to make use of all the studying I had done over the break, eager to return back to basketball and get fully caught up on my schoolwork.

It hadn’t even been three days before a basketball to the face gifted me another concussion on Dec. 3, taking my previous two weeks of missed work and adding three more weeks of missed material.

That night, as I stared at the same math problem for five minutes while dealing with an awful headache, I struggled to accept that I had another concussion. Part of me wanted to push through the headaches for as long as I could, knowing I already had the weight of all that missing work dragging me down.

As I headed downstairs to tell my mom how bad my head hurt, I flipped the light switch off by my desk, accepting the next four months of darkness and leaving my basketball career behind.

The mound of work I was helplessly dreading transformed into something bigger, leaving me staring up at a mountain of meaningless papers and assignments.

I might have been the only kid dreading Christmas break this year. I couldn’t properly engage in the Christmas spirit, celebrate my 16th birthday or relax on our family ski trip while dealing with an insane amount of make-up work.

While friends and family were skiing, I studied for my chemistry test.

While friends played video games, watched movies and relaxed, I struggled to understand math concepts that used to come easily to me. 

When I returned to school on Jan. 6, I was faced with a total of ten makeup tests and quizzes to conquer.

And that’s not counting other assignments and current work that I had to keep up with. It may not seem believable when I say I finally finished all my makeup work on March 10, but it seriously took me that long.

There are three pieces of advice I would give to anyone who is behind on their work: meet with teachers as much as you need – they want to help you. Go to the wellness center to get help planning your make-up schedule. Lastly and most importantly: never give up. This is not an easy school, but with enough persistence and patience, anything is possible.