Jefferson is well known for its rigor. Balancing seven classes with large workloads is already difficult. Adding in extracurriculars in addition to school work can be even more challenging for students. The annual musical and iNite are two of the most well-known extracurricular events of the year. Hundreds of students participate in one or both events. However, as they were very close to each other this year, students participating in both events had to manage their time well. The musical was performed on Feb. 16, 17, 18, 23, and 24 and iNite occurred on  Feb. 25th.

Although the practice periods for iNite and the musical overlapped, iNite practices were typically during eighth periods, while musical rehearsals and tech were usually after school.

“BSU is Wednesdays B, Choir is both A blocks, and Poi is Friday B block.” senior Angel Peprah said, naming the practice times for her three iNite acts.

The musical practices had more flexibility, but also took up more time.

“It depends on how dedicated you are,” junior Claire Cofield said. “Techs can leave at 7:30, or they can stay until 9:30. So that’s three and a half to five and a half hours each night, and then weekends are ten to six.”

Even so, there was still a lot of overlap.

“Drama used to meet … both B blocks, but I couldn’t come to those,” Peprah  said, “But since we had a lot of after school practices, it wasn’t as bad.”

Students doing both iNite and the musical sometimes had to prioritize one over the other, based off of scheduling conflicts. Early in February, freshman Meera Gupta said she’d already “had two conflicts so far.”

“I just kind of came late to the musical …because the musical runs longer than iNite.” Gupta said.

Keeping up with schoolwork also posed a challenge to students.

“I have a very busy schedule,” junior Chrissy Blake said, who is in three iNites and the musical. “But I try to work efficiently so that I can do all my activities.”

Nonetheless, participants found the final results of iNite and the Mary Poppins well worth the time and effort.

“Sometimes when the things are all piling up at once, its like ‘Oh no, why do I do this to myself?’” Blake said. “But when I get to perform musicals or perform in iNite, everything is totally worth it.”