TAMPA, Fla. — Some Hillsborough County public high school students are shortening their school days so they can focus on building careers in professional sports or performing arts.

At Plant High School, a few dozen students have modified their schedules so they can be in the classroom for the first four periods of the day and complete the additional three classes online at a different time. This allows them to attend sports practices and training commitments.

“A lot of our kids are nationally ranked and they do all of these amazing, cool things and we want them to have that as part of their college application experience,” explained school counselor Randi Litwak.

Freshman Christine Johnson is one of those students. She takes four classes at Plant before leaving late morning to attend rigorous ballet classes at the Straz Center. She’s a part of their pre-professional ballet program and will be starring as Clara in the Nutcracker.

Johnson arrives to ballet class around 1 p.m. and will stay at the Straz Center for up to eight hours each day as rehearsals run into the night. She says she completes her classwork after ballet and on weekends.

“In all of my classes I get pushed to do a lot of work but it helps to keep me focused,” she said.

Freshman Christine Johnson takes four classes at Plant before leaving late morning to attend rigorous ballet classes at the Straz Center. (Angie Angers/Spectrum Bay News 9)

The idea behind the shortened school day, is so these students can have a traditional high school experience while also working towards their college and career goals.  Many students who go into professional sports and performing arts attend school virtually, but the district wanted to provide these highly-motivated students a chance to do both.

“They really do a good job of finding overall balance which I think is more reminiscent of life and life skills,” Litwak said.