Having less than two hours of free time every night after school certainly takes a lot of dedication in order to stay on track with every activity.

Morgan Gates, a freshman from Palmyra dances more than twenty hours each week and also has to manage playing the saxophone in her school band, singing in the choir, dancing and competing, and all honors classes available for her grade.

An average after school afternoon for Gates starts immediately after the school day. On most nights she does not have time to go back to her home before heading to the dance studio for the night.

Usually Gates is in class at One Broadway Dance Center from 3:30 in the afternoon to 9:30 at night with little to no breaks to have dinner, get homework done, or even relax.

Not only is she in twenty regular dance classes, she is on the competition team and is a dance assistant. Dance assistants are an elite group of girls that put in extra hours to help teach young dancers alongside the dance teacher. Gates forfeits her freetime to volunteer around the studio to pass along what she has learned.

The competition team also adds many hours to Gates’ packed schedule. Although it takes a lot of extra time to learn choreography for the competitions, the only breaks that Gates has during the dance season between classes that are not for the competition team, are dedicated to practicing for the stage.  

One Broadway’s dance team travels to different areas to compete for medals against local teams, and even sometimes dance studios from different states.

The dance season is almost completely year round. Although Gates is not competing every month of the year, she never gets time off from practicing the art form.

She also has the extra weight of being enrolled in all honors classes, and has to work continuously to manage her grades while making sure to study hard.

“If I want to succeed at school I can’t put stuff off. I need to get work done when I can,” said Gates.

Two tips that she has for a person with a busy schedule. The first tip is to get your work done during a study hall or a free period, and the second tip is to get your work done when you can and not procrastinate.

Doing her homework as soon as possible when she gets home or has a break from dance has helped Gates succeed in completing her school work when she does not have much free time.

Dancing has definitely taken a toll on how often Gates is able to spend time with her friends.

Gates usually has Sundays or Friday afternoons off, but the free time that she has is generally used to catch up from missed work.

Finding time to do activities with her friends that are not from the dance studio is difficult when all of them have their own busy schedules.

“I don’t want them to think I’m ditching them,” said Gates.  

Although Gates has choir and band during the school day, she does not have much time to practice for her lessons and concerts.

She relies on the time during her band and choir classes to practice the saxophone and learn her songs for the class performances.

“I don’t really practice at home,” said Gates.

She has missed concerts because of having to go to dance rehearsals. While she has been able to attend all of her choir concerts, Gates was not able to attend her only two band recitals.

“Without my busy schedule,” said Gates, “I’d be bored all of the time.”