The calm serenity of winter break has been replaced by the hectic flurry of responsibility as school kicks back into gear. Clubs are reorganizing after the time off, and classes are slowly getting back into the swing of things. The daily rut has begun again, and the stress of school is already looming over the heads of students.
Life at ORR for a student can be stressful. Trying to juggle between classes and homework and clubs and sports can leave students feeling lost in a whirlwind of ever-increasing responsibility. Stress is a constant factor in everybody’s lives – not exclusively high schoolers – but the students of Old Rochester Regional have discovered ways in which to enjoy their high school experience despite the pressure.
For many, stress relief can be found from melodies flowing out of an earbud.
“What gets me through the day is music,” said Mary Roussell. “If I didn’t have music, I don’t think I’d want to go to school at all.”
And although wearing earbuds isn’t allowed in the halls, many students in studies and in lunch make sure to decompress with some of their favorite artists.
For some, meditation is a way to focus on what really matters and calm overworked nerves.
“There’s this really nice app called calm.com that my guidance counselor told me about,” said Erin Costa, “and it has guided meditations, it has timed meditations. You can listen to nice calming sounds for as long as you want to. You can do it as white noise as you’re doing your work.” On top of using meditation, Costa gives herself checkpoints of sorts.
“What gets me through the day is knowing that once the day is over, I get to sleep. And even giving myself pinpoints, like ‘make it to lunch’ or ‘make it to track’ is helpful.” Costa said.
But high school isn’t only a time to discover what ways are most efficient for stress relief. It’s also a time to grow and learn a new, more practical set of skills to use in college and beyond.
“I got very organized very quickly to adjust to my school responsibilities because as the expectations grew, I didn’t, and had to adjust right away,” said Jonathan Kvilhaug.
The pressure can be put on from a multitude of different sources, notably from peers. Appearance is important in high school, and despite its shallow influence, students take great care in what others think of them.
Multiple different students explained how their biggest stress came from their hectic schedules and trying to find time for themselves. And there is, of course, the sheer amount of work.
“The thing that stresses me out the most is when the expectations of teachers are more on the physical aspects of learning rather than the physical act of learning,” said Kvilhaug. “When the focus is primarily on results, it takes away from achievement in other aspects.”
Yet, teachers at ORR are understanding and offer wise advice and a helping hand to the students who need a little more motivation.
Being organized and responsible is a large part of maturing in high school, and English teacher Bertrand Allain has some helpful advice for students who may be struggling to keep up.
“I think it’s really easy to assume you can get by just on your intelligence, but you’re going to be more successful if you have some organizational skills to go with that,” said Allain. “Sometimes very, very smart people find themselves a little bit lost because they fail to be organized.”
And to those community members, parents, friends, or anyone who wants to know how to inspire and relieve some of the stress, a student who wished to remain anonymous offered:
“High school is a difficult time, with stress from other students to fit in and be liked, on top of the normal stresses of school. I think the biggest thing I’d want people to know is that you’ve all been here before, so when we talk about school, please don’t dismiss it just because we’re younger. [We] students sometimes need a little help, too.”
By Sienna Wurl