Recently, a new policy regarding away game return times has been implemented at Aspen High School. The hope with this policy is that it will allow students to get their much-needed sleep and, as a result, reduce their stress after a late return from an away game.

The new rule states that if student-athletes arrive in Aspen after 11:00 pm, they are allowed to miss their first and second periods of the following day. Additionally, if athletes return after 2:00 am, they are activity excused from school for the entire day. However, if students want, they can still show up to all of their periods, even though they are excused.

Tharyn Mulberry, the principal at AHS, supports the new rule, believing that it will allow students to get enough sleep before school following a late return from a sports event.

“I think this policy is a great idea. It has been a long time coming. Late arrivals have been one of the biggest complaints from both parents and kids alike. The winter sports season seems to be the worst with late arrival times because of travel conditions. It’s not fair to ask these students or any other of our student-athletes to show up at school at 8:00 am after coming in so late. We want to make sure our students are getting enough sleep,” Mulberry said.

Annika Nichols, who is on the Alpine Ski Team and an 11th grader at AHS, agrees with Mulberry and thinks that the policy will benefit students.

“At our school, there’s a lot of focus on athletics as well as academics. The administration wants a lot of students to participate in sports. But, sometimes being a student-athlete can be pretty stressful- there’s a lot of work and a lot of travel. So, this policy just makes it a little easier for those students,” said Nichols.

James Kelly, a junior who is on the AHS Soccer Team and the Alpine Ski Team, also approves of the new rule but harbors a few concerns.

“Getting home at 2:00 in the morning, and then trying to finish all of your homework, and then going to school the next day is kind of unrealistic. So, I feel like this new rule is fair, but students could take advantage of it. It’s very rare that the buses get home after 2:00 am, but I feel like [students] could be prepared to go to school the next day but choose to stay home instead since they are excused. Instead of doing the make-up work, they would just spend the day messing around,” said Kelly.

Cory Parker is currently an English teacher and the JV Basketball coach at Aspen High. He was also was a student-athlete at AHS when he was in high school.

“I have mixed feelings about it, and I’m sure my players are not going to like me saying this, but, to be honest, I think that [late returns] are part of being a student-athlete. You made a commitment and a decision to a team and to a program that requires a lot of sacrifices and I think it helps teach time management. I think [the new rule] is quite lenient and it’s giving the kids a lot of freedom.”