The Struggle: Sincerely, High School

Victoria Bell (16), is a high school junior at Harborfields with an insane amount of activities along with school work. On an average school day, Victoria will return home at approximately 8:00, dreading the boatload of homework she has ahead of her. 

She says, “If I hadn't had caffeine once it gets to 11 p.m, I go into a state of despair and I will have trouble focusing and keeping myself awake.” At this point, High School is more for the purpose of surviving the amount of work given rather than for the main purpose of school is learning. Students who attend high school almost never get a break during the week. They wake up for school at the crack of dawn around 6:15 a.m only to know that it will be another night of going to bed at some ridiculous time past 12 a.m. The workload given each night makes it impossible for any student to get the 8 hours of sleep they need for a healthy lifestyle.

 Although it may seem impossible to survive these long, stressful nights, there is a way to manage the workload. Time management is a tool almost all students forget about. Buying a cheap calendar is the only thing you need to plan your time out. For example, when 4:00 p.m hits, that would be the time where you study for a certain subject and then an hour later you start homework for another subject. I have tried this method myself for an entire month and I can’t even believe how much it has helped my stress levels each night.

Certain schools around the country have created anonymous surveys where students describe what causes them stress during the school year. This doesn’t have to be just school work related too, it can also be social or personal stress too. Attached is a link to a completely anonymous form where you can answer questions about your own stress. This gives the school ways on how they can improve the overall environment to make students feel stress free.