In the school year, senior students have been taking on a lot of responsibility as they prepare to go into college and adulthood. With these responsibilities also comes a handle of stress throughout the year. Even though it’s only the second marking period, these stressors have become prominent in everyday life. Students tend to go to the counselors about their stress, leading to senior counselors spending roughly 25% of their time talking to seniors about their stressors, making up a quarter of what they talk about with students.
“As a counselor I want to listen, but, while students are talking, I’m also thinking about what could be helpful to this student,” senior counselor Eileen Starr said. “When you talk about anxiety and burnout, sometimes a good word for that could be overwhelmed, feeling overwhelmed. A very good way of dealing with feeling overwhelmed could be to make a list.”
Some major stressors during senior year aren’t clear, but are still important to notice. Anything within daily life could add onto stress levels. Some of these stressors could be stress about getting a job, deciding on a college, or relationship stress. A good way to deal with these stressors is talking through it with someone trusted. A common way students deal with stress is by avoiding it to distract from it.
“I think my best advice to handle stress is to talk about it, and to be honest, I think if you bottle it up,” Upward Bound adviser Kelly Gallery-Price said. “It becomes worse, so communicating, asking for help and realizing that they are not alone.”
Stress is a perpetual concept almost every student deals with; some senior students feel like it rises when getting to senior year. Whether it’s worrying about the next pop quiz, grades plummeting or just hoping to get into a good college, everything feels 10 times more stressful when reaching the end of high school.
“Stress is a concept that I live in,” senior Leigha Short said. “Can I go to school without having to worry about working my schedule for the night because of homework? Or may I kindly not have to worry about the next pop quiz?”
