Senior Sylvia Guerrero wakes up before the sun rises. At 5:30 a.m. she gets dressed in the dark and goes about her morning routine, blinking back tiredness. Guerrero lives on the outskirts of Hiram Clark, about 20 minutes from school, but since she’s recently moved in with her grandparents, her commute has gotten more complicated.

“I wake up that early to go with my grandpa to his shop,” Guerrero said, “‘Cause he leaves at 6:15am.”

Once there, Guerrero waits for her mom to pick her up and take her to school. Guerrero arrives by 7:25 a.m., with an hour of time to kill before the doors open.

After school, Guerrero faces similar transportation problems. She has 7th period off, so after 6th her mom picks her up and takes her to the shop again.

“There is no one else to come take me home,” Guerrero said, “So when I get to grandpa’s shop I have to wait for about two hours, until about 6 p.m. then the shop closes and we drive home.”

For Guerrero this means losing sleep and missing out on school events like theater.

“I want to act but it’s difficult because no one is available to come and pick me up after those activities are over,” Guerrero said. “ So it’s either stay at school and ask someone to take me home, which would be a far drive for them, or just go home, which is what I do. I’d really love to be a part of theater but I can’t ever be in a show or even come to a show because of my commute.”

Even though moving into her grandparent’s house means waking up an hour earlier for school than she did at her parents, Guerrero doesn’t regret her choice.

“I don’t mind the change too much,” Guerrero said. “I’m happier living at my grandpa’s because it’s a better home environment and I don’t sleep that much anyway. I’m not zoned to Bellaire, but I chose to come because the schools that are in Hiram Clarke, like Madison, don’t care about education as much as Bellaire does,” Guerrero said.

Another senior, Clarke Fisher, chose Bellaire over her zoned school, Marshall, because of her dedication to Belles. “I loved Belles, so when I tried out freshman year and made it I was excited to go to Bellaire,” Fisher said. Fisher lives in Missouri City, a 45 minute drive to Bellaire with traffic.

For Fisher, the positives outweigh the negatives, but she said that her situation does come with downsides.

“I have Belles practice afterschool, and with traffic my drive is a solid 35 to 40 minutes, so I don’t normally get home until 7:15 p.m.,” Fisher said. “There are times that I have to wake up earlier to do homework because I didn’t have time to do it the night before. I love my sleep, I am a sleep person, so losing hours is stressful because I wake up annoyed and lacking motivation.”

Senior Sophia Magana also has a lengthy morning commute, though she drives herself instead of getting a ride from her parents. Magana lives in Pearland, a 45 minute to an hour drive from Bellaire.

“I like driving to school, but I don’t like the traffic,” Magana said. “On a good day I get here at 6:30am when it’s still dark outside. I can usually park on the first come first serve spots on Ferris,” Magana said.

Magana did not win the senior parking lottery and doesn’t have a guaranteed parking spot.

“I’m zoned to Madison High School,” Magana said, “But I chose to go to Bellaire because Madison wasn’t a good option. I wanted better opportunities for myself and I felt like Bellaire had that to offer.”

For golfer and junior Bradley Lavinier, getting his license has made all the difference in his morning commute. Lavinier lives next to Gross Elementary, about 30 minutes away from school sans traffic.

“My dad works, so until I got my license I wasn’t really able to get to school on time.” Lavinier said. “With golf practice I can’t get there on time either, so I have to stay extra time and then I get home later. I have to do homework in the car. When I’m at a light I stop to study a little bit.”

Lavinier credits his dad as his main motivation for going to Bellaire.

“He thought Bellaire would be a better learning environment for me,” Lavinier said. “He saw it as more worth it. Personally, I think in-person school isn’t as hard as online so I don’t think my commute has made the transition back to in-person harder. I don’t see any negatives now that I can drive.”