--- description: So she decided to do something about it title: Area Teen Will Literally DIE If She Has to Wake Up Any Earlier for School image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt443a00679b05ea7f/6986841513c79f449d190dfd/ab13364.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Area Teen Says She 'Will Die' If She Has to Wake Up Any Earlier for School by [Jessica Roy](/author/jessica-roy/) ## Jessica Roy Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 13, 2014 7:20 PM CUT  Teenage students taking examinations, elevated view Teenage students taking examinations, elevated viewGetty Images by [Jessica Roy](/author/jessica-roy/) ## Jessica Roy Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 13, 2014 7:20 PM CUT 17-year-old Missouri high school student Jilly Dos Santos [hated waking up so early](http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/13/to-keep-teenagers-alert-schools-let-them-sleep-in/?hp "undefined") to make it into school by 7:50 a.m. So when she heard her district was thinking about pushing the start time up to 7:20 a.m., she simply could not stand for it. “I thought, if that happens, I will die,” Dos Santos [told](http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/13/to-keep-teenagers-alert-schools-let-them-sleep-in/?hp "undefined") the _New York Times_. “I will drop out of school!” Instead of begging her mom to let her sleep later or taking ill-timed naps to compensate for her lack of sleep, she decided to do something heroic: Dos Santos got her school’s start time pushed back until 9 a.m. Now she doesn’t have to die–_and_ she can sleep in. It’s a win/win. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/23887/area-teen-will-literally-die-if-she-has-to-wake-up-any-earlier-for-school/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/23887/area-teen-will-literally-die-if-she-has-to-wake-up-any-earlier-for-school/"},"headline":"Area Teen Says She 'Will Die' If She Has to Wake Up Any Earlier for School","datePublished":"2014-03-13T19:20:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:07:47.169Z","description":"So she decided to do something about it","url":"https://time.com/23887/area-teen-will-literally-die-if-she-has-to-wake-up-any-earlier-for-school/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Appreciation"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt443a00679b05ea7f/6986841513c79f449d190dfd/ab13364.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jessica Roy","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/jessica-roy/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt443a00679b05ea7f/6986841513c79f449d190dfd/ab13364.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Teenage students taking examinations","caption":"Teenage students taking examinations","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/23887/area-teen-will-literally-die-if-she-has-to-wake-up-any-earlier-for-school/","name":"Area Teen Says She 'Will Die' If She Has to Wake Up Any Earlier for School"}}]}] ```