With the number of personal relationships between high school students on the rise, grades are getting affected.

Relationships can be a healthy source of companionship, but they can also have the potential to be negative.

Relationships have the ability to affect everyone in different ways, even in school.

“Last year we (my boyfriend and I) had some classes together so my grades kind of slipped,” junior Paige Roberts said. “I think being in a relationship can affect grades, by losing concentration for doing your homework and studying for tests.”

Roberts admitted that once in a relationship, she started spending  too much time with her partner.

The attention given to her partner became excessive, and it caused her to be less academically dedicated and lose interest in her school work.

She stopped putting as much time into her studies so she could spend more time with her significant other.

“My grades have improved now that I am settled into my relationship, but at first they were rocky,” Roberts said.

But not all students seem to be academically affected by their partner.

Straight-A student Liam Grathoff, junior, said that he “knows school is always the most important.” His study habits and grades have not been affected since entering a relationship.

Grathoff dedicates the necessary amount of time to be successful in school, also making time to have fun and enjoy being in a relationship.

He knows how to properly balance school and spend time with his girlfriend.

“School always comes first, but being in a relationship is always a great get away from stress,” Grathoff said. “Sometimes you need a mental break and  receive some happiness. A relationship can bring that happiness you need.”

Relationships have the ability to have a positive impact on students or a negative one.

This impact varies from relationship to relationship.

Principal Brian Wiskur has noticed many students who have changed academically once they entered into a relationship.

“I’ve seen students who’ve gotten involved in relationships where the boy or the girl had absolutely terrible working habits, and the other one was affected by going that way,” Wiskur said. “I’ve also seen it where, for example, a boy has terrible working habits and academically is not strong, but dates a girl who takes her studies very seriously and she has changed him around.”

Wiskur’s advice for students is to make sure school comes first. Do not allow your partner to consume all of your time and get in the way of your studies.

How you perform academically in high school will be a determinate of what your future will hold, so make sure to take it seriously.

If you let a relationship get in the way of your studies, it will also get in the way of your future. On the other hand, if you get in a relationship and your grades rise, it will help your future.

“Date someone who has the same, or if not better, goals and expectations for life than you,” Wiskur said. “This will cause you to strive for those goals.”