Hockadaises are punctual, to a point that they stress when they fail to turn in an assignment on time. New to Hockaday this year, freshman Sophia Shams has never missed a deadline. She takes advantage of conference and Y-periods, and staying up late. She has been committed to being timely with her work for the past five years.

“I haven’t missed a deadline since fifth grade,” Shams said.

Sophomore Cameron Todd is also prompt about getting all her homework done. If she ever misses an assignment, it is for an important reason.

“Sometimes [missing homework] makes you feel bad. Teachers make you feel like you’re going to get a worse grade on it. It [puts] more pressure on you,” Todd said.

When it comes to not turning in homework, Todd pin-pointed a domino effect in the thought process of Hockaday girls. “If you don’t turn in your homework, you don’t get a grade, and if you don’t get a grade, that affects your overall grade. If it affects your overall grade, you’re not going to get into college, which really isn’t true, but that’s how we think about stuff, so every little thing matters.”

This is a responsibility many Hockadaisies have gotten accustomed to from an early age.

Elizabeth Michel, a junior and Hockaday lifer, said, “I’ve always been kind of scared to turn something in late because I have been at Hockaday my whole life, and they have always been pretty strict about turning in all of your homework.”

In addition, Michel views Hockaday students as a lot more detail-driven than students at other schools, and to her, that’s why most Hockadaisies stress about turning in every single piece of homework on time.

But there may be another reason why girls at Hockaday are so consistent when it comes to deadlines. Senior Katya Lopatko thinks that “some people are more prone to perfectionism than others, just by the fact that you often hear about the ‘culture of perfectionism’ at Hockaday.”

Senorities might be an exception to this rule, however. “A lot of people are more laid back, especially as senior year goes on,” Lopatko said.

According to Shams, the basis of students’ stress over homework is sustained commitment. “I like that when you walk down the hallways, you hear a lot of ‘homework’ talk. I think it’s really cool how girls at Hockaday are that dedicated, and I think that the stress really does contribute to turning that stuff in and getting it done.”

– Anesu Munyaradzi