Let’s face it: school is definitely not a walk through the park. Students have to get up really early and work for about six and a half hours, only getting one break throughout the school day. When students go home, the work certainly is not over, as they have homework, and depending on their classes, they may have a lot of it. The work adds on with extracurricular activities. So, how do students with full schedules and extracurricular activities balance schoolwork and performances? Two Pinelands students, Donnah Campbell and Zinnia Moon, are finding ways to handle musical performances and schoolwork.

Donnah Campbell, a senior at Pinelands, is not only one of the top students of her class, but she is very involved in the music industry.

“I love to sing and perform, and that has been a huge part of my life since I was nine years old,” she says.

Campbell has performed at many restaurants, festivals, and concerts, but she’s especially passionate about using her talent for volunteer work.

“I greatly enjoy performing for the veterans of our country, and giving back to those who served. In fact, I’ve been performing every month at the Glassboro VFW for the last four years,” Campbell explains.

At school, Campbell is part of the Math, History, and Spanish clubs, as well as the National and Spanish Honor Societies. In order to balance out the activities, Campbell says that she does it with determination and hard work. Even with her busy schedule, she still makes sure that she is able to take part in other things she is passionate about.

“I believe there’s a fine line between working hard and overexerting yourself, and you need to be able to understand and recognize your own personal boundaries and limitations. But the end result is worth all the ‘treble!’” she advises.

While partaking in many activities is fun, it can also be difficult, especially as one gets older.

“Over the years, and especially as I entered high school, it definitely has not always been easy balancing everything!” Campbell admits. “It can be exceptionally difficult, juggling AP coursework, especially when May rolls around and it’s crunchtime!”

But at the end of the day, she doesn’t necessarily mind having a busy schedule and that she would not change anything

Zinnia Moon, a sophomore at Pinelands, is also an aspiring musician as well as an honors student. She often performs with her older sister, Sahara, and does her own solo activities as well.

“Outside of school, I play at a bunch of different places. Most of my shows take place during the summer, but there are a few sporadic ones throughout the year. I always join my sister on some of her shows and sing with her, as well as perform a few songs of my own,” she says.

During quarantine, Moon has been focusing on writing and practicing songs, recording videos, and holding performances via Instagram and Facebook with her sister.

Moon is a member of the girls high school soccer team as well as an honors student, so she often receives a lot of schoolwork that she has to complete. It’s a lot of work, but Moon is able to balance it all out.

“I would work on my school work after soccer, or during classes that I didn't have much work in. I would schedule a date with my songwriter, that was both available for us, which was mostly before a soccer game, or on the weekends. When I had free time at night, I would practice some music or learn something new,” Moon explains.

Between school, soccer, and working on music, Moon had a lot on her plate, but she found ways to manage it all. She also found it easier to handle all the work during Covid-19.

“Since Covid-19, I haven't had any live performances since the summer. As upsetting at that was, I was thankful in a way because it would have been too much to handle,” Moon says,

On December 12th, Moon will be holding a livestream at 8 pm (tickets are $3) along with a Facebook livestream with Sahara on December 20th.

Zinna Moon’s December 12th livestream:

https://www.highplateauproductions.com/ .