The clock strikes 7:15. You get out of bed, take a quick shower, throw some clothes on and grab something to eat. Then you’re out the door.

This is a common morning routine for most PHS students, but those who commute to school from another city have a much earlier start.

Senior Molly Niemuth said she gets up at 6:45 and it takes her either 15 minutes to commute by car from her mom’s house in San Leandro or it is a two hour BART and bus commute from her dad’s house in Benicia.

“In the morning if I leave even three minutes late it can be anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes from San Leandro because of traffic or accidents on the highway,” Niemuth said.

Niemuth said she commutes to Piedmont because her mom is a music teacher at Piedmont High School.

“My mom is a teacher here and Piedmont schools are better than Benicia and San Leandro schools,” Niemuth said.

Like Niemuth, senior Greg Afong said he commutes from out of Piedmont and gets up around 6:45 too.

“I commute to Piedmont from Kensington, Berkeley. I have to get up at about 6:45,” Afong said. “On average it takes about 25 minutes to drive to school.”

Niemuth said she gets stressed in the morning because she never knows if there is going to be something on the way to school that will delay her commute, such as more traffic than usual or a car accident.

“I am late, not because I didn’t leave on time, but because of some other thing that is out of my control,” Niemuth said.

Junior Will Brown said he goes to Piedmont schools because his mom is a first grade teacher in the district.

“I live in North Berkeley, pretty close to Albany High. It can take like 15 minutes with zero traffic, but can take up to 30,” Brown said. “I usually get to school in about 25 minutes.”

Brown said that living outside of Piedmont is not that big of a deal because there are Piedmont kids who spend that much time walking to school.

“The thing that is annoying about it, is the inconsistencies with how long it takes depending on traffic, and the cost of gas and driving,” Brown said.

Afong said because he does not live in Piedmont, it is sometimes difficult to go home because he has to accommodate his and his sister’s extracurriculars.

“It’s not too bad though because it’s my car, so I can choose when to go home, compared with before, when I had to rely on my dad to pick up,” Afong said.

Niemuth said she had to make many choices for what extracurriculars she wanted to participate in because of her commute.

“I have wanted to participate on sports teams but haven’t been able to because practice times are so late,” Niemuth said. “Even for rugby the last two years, I worked out an arrangement with my friends to sleep at their homes once a week so I wouldn’t have to leave my house at 5:40 a.m. to make the 6 a.m. practice.”

Niemuth said she was pressured to get her license as soon as she could.

“I could tell it was wearing down my parents having to drive in and out of Piedmont to drop me at friends houses or practices and rehearsals,” said Niemuth.

Brown said it was hard before he had his license to go home because sometimes his mom has to stay later for meetings.

“I’ve spent a lot of time waiting around for her to be ready to leave, and vise versa,” Brown said.

Brown said that the public transportation out of Piedmont is not very good and only leaves about every hour or half hour.

“It takes about an hour to get home on the bus. I bike a lot, which is actually the 2nd fastest way home, about 40 minutes,” Brown said.

Niemuth said there are times when living out of Piedmont has been hard, but it has made her more independent.

“There have been many times when I couldn’t hang out with friends or I was left out of something simply because I didn’t have a ride,” said Niemuth. “Living in a different city has pushed me to become more independent because I have a job in Piedmont and nearly all my friends live here.”