Tenafly High School is notoriously known for its academic rigor and competition. However, Tenafly students aren’t the only ones struggling to maintain a balanced lifestyle. Teachers and staff members from every department constantly battle with the overwhelming demands of their jobs. Teachers also often have to sacrifice substantial hours of sleep every night in order to keep up with their exhausting work load. From handing out assignments, to grading papers, and preparing class lessons, it’s truly amazing that they even find time to sleep at all. In addition to this, many teachers also serve as club advisors and sports team coaches. As the start of the spring break approaches, THS teachers simply can not wait to break from their heavy work routines and enjoy themselves. However, until then, several teachers from the various THS departments have shared with us what their sleep schedules look like. Let’s find out which department will win The Sleep Off!

First, let’s start with the History department. Humanities History teacher Mr. Hutchinson revealed that his average amount of sleep during the week rests (pun intended!) at about six-and-a-half hours per night. Although he’s not very satisfied with this number, Mr. Hutchinson takes a half-hour nap every late afternoon in order to refresh his energy for the rest of the day. On top of that, he makes sure to get as much sleep as he can on the weekends in an effort to recover from his busy weekday schedule. AACC and AMEX teacher Mr. Barrett reported that he gets five-and-a-half to six-and-a-half hours of sleep on any given school night, although he’d prefer to forgo the fractions and get an even seven. Overall, the history department averages six hours per night.

Next, let’s move on to the World Language department. Spanish 4 Honors and CPA teacher Señora Kim said that she usually sleeps around five—maximum six—hours per night on the weekdays. She’s not content at all with this amount of rest. Always striving to get more, Señora Kim is mainly able to recover from this lack of sleep on the weekends by getting as much as 10 hours of sleep in one night. Señora Pelaez-Martinez reported getting six hours of sleep as well, although she is not satisfied with this amount. However, she asserted that, “It is what it is.” Our language office averages around five and half hours a night.

Third up is our lovely English department. AP Literature & Composition teacher Mr. Oppedisano said he gets six hours on a given school night. His counterpart, Humanities English teacher Mrs. Oppedisano, also reported getting around six hours of slumber. She expressed her discontentment with this number. She said, “I think it comes down to a kind of ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’ … I am now so accustomed to this state of restlessness that I fear what a school day would feel like with a proper eight hours of sleep.” We hope that on the weekends she is able to make up for lost time, but as they say, one can only dream. With both of our humanities departments going head to head, the English department seems to be tied with our History department at an even six hours per night.

Continuing on, we have our Science department. Biology teacher Mr. Angus has four young children, his youngest being only 18 months old (shout out to Aiden!), so it’s amazing that he manages to get around six to six-and-a-half hours of sleep per night (although he always strives for more than seven). Chemistry teacher Mrs. Subramaniam reported that she gets about five hours of sleep per night. She shared that she’s very unsatisfied with this number. On top of that, she only gets a slightly greater amount of sleep on the weekends with a meager six-and-a-half hours. This leaves the Science department with a precise five hours and 45 minutes of sleep per night. 

Now, we have our Math department. Algebra 2/Trig and Calculus teacher Mr. Moreng answered that he gets a cool average of seven hours of rest every night, however, he is still not satisfied with this number and often tries to catch up on his sleep on the weekends. Precalculus and Geometry teacher Ms. Ahn said that she manages to get a whooping seven-and-a-half hours of sleep every night! How does she do it?! Only she can answer that question. Factoring in (get the joke?) Ms. Ahn’s huge sleep contribution, this places the math department in the lead with seven hours and 15 minutes of sleep per night. Hmm, what a coincidence that the math teachers ended up tallying the biggest number so far!

Last but not least is our Performing Arts department! Mr. Ahn-Cooper reported, “My sleep patterns are really bad. I usually go to sleep anywhere from 10:30 p.m.-1 a.m. and wake up every day at 6:20 a.m.” For those of you who are mathematically challenged, that clocks in at anywhere from five hours and 20 minutes to seven hours and 15 minutes. A fellow light sleeper, he often wakes up throughout the night, but said, “I’m so used to it. I know that it is not enough or healthy.” Mr. Millar stated that he gets a relaxing seven hours of sleep every night, however, this doesn’t seem satisfactory for the orchestra teacher, as he said that “eight would be better but it’s fine.” Taking Mr. Ahn-Cooper’s median, this places the performing arts department with a high count of six hours and 40 minutes of sleep per night. 

Finally, now that the results are in, here comes everybody’s favorite part of the competition: the announcement of the winner! Based on the tallies, it is an honor to declare that the winner, the champion, the victor of all six departments is (drumroll)… the math department! Congratulations to Mr. Moreng and Ms. Ahn for bringing the title home and a huge thank you to all of the participants of the THS Departments’ Sleep Off!