Panther Prints | Issue 2 | December 2019

@PESHPRINTS Feature • 11
difficulties] than [older generations]
would be.”
But a lack
of coping skills
is not the only
factor at play.
Students now
53%
face much
higher expectations
for
college admissions,
according
to Marquez,
resulting in an over-
exertion
of their efforts.
“When I was in high school, it wasn’t too
difficult to get into schools like the University
of Texas,” Marquez said. “That’s a difference
and a huge stress that we didn’t
face in terms of how hard it is to get where
you want to go.”
For students like junior Alicia Daley,
the need to go above and beyond to attend
a prestigious college comes from
intrinsic motivations.
“Not a lot of people are put into a position
where they can [participate in] all
these activities or have access to all these
resources,” Daley said. “I think it would just
be bad if I didn’t take advantage of it.”
Despite this motivator, 70% of 348 students
surveyed feel pressured by their parents
to perform well in school and get into
a prestigious college. Marquez and Lansing
say this parental pressure can be encouraging,
but only to an extent.
“When the expectations are not realistic,
that’s when they can be harmful,”
Marquez said. “Over-the-top pressure
to maintain unrealistically high grades is
just overwhelming.”
When working hard doesn’t work
ccording to the American Psychological
AAssociation, long-term or chronic stress
can adversely affect almost every body
system. One of the most severe of these
effects is an increased risk for high blood
pressure, heart attack or stroke.
“[Stress] is horrible for your health,”
Lansing said. “I don’t think there’s one good
thing about [excess] stress in terms of your
body and physical well-being.”
However, students reportedly find it difficult
to avoid long-term stress and its effects
due to a “stress culture” on campus
when students coming together to discuss
and compare their worries end up increasing
each other’s stress levels.
“I think we build up our stress to such
an unnecessarily high level,” senior Gaby
Montenegro said. “Whenever kids finish
and graduate they’re very proud of their
accomplishments, but they have such
bad memories of [school] because of all
their stress.”
This dilemma and a general lack of free
time are familiar issues to the counselors
on campus. Marquez says students concerned
with doing well in school often forego
engaging in any leisure activities.
“We talk to so many kids, especially
[those] that are academically stressed
that when you ask, ‘What do you do
for fun?’ they can’t tell you,” Marquez
said. “They just don’t do anything for
fun, [but] it’s OK to take a break once
in a while.”
Junior Alicia Daley
explains that a sense of
of students
say
schoolwork is their
biggest stressor
out of 448 students polled
guilt about not working
hard enough is what
promotes this lack of
time spent in recreational
activities. Many
students fear that if
they take a break, they
might fall behind or
come to regret it later.
This mentality also pushes students to take
advanced classes they have
no interest in rather than
classes relevant to their interests
that rank lower on
the GPA scale.
“I’m definitely more pressured
to do things that’ll
help me with the future
instead of things that are
just kind of fun and a good
experience,” junior Kristina
Runowski said. “I’ve learned
to let that go and take things
that might not help with that,
but that are more character
building and fun for me.”
Controlling the out-ofcontrol
tress management strat-
vary across dif-
Segies
ferent people and different
situations. Some students
believe teaching these
strategies should be the
school’s responsibility.
“I think teachers play
such a pivotal role in our
lives,” Daley said. “I think just
taking a minute and sharing
tidbits of real life experience
about stress and management
would help so much.”
There are many things
students can do to reduce
stress on their own as well.
Montenegro and Runowski
both say the most important
step they took in
trying to improve their
stress levels was
adjusting their expectations
for
themselves.
“I’ve
accepted
what
10
courses I
excel in and
which ones I
need to work a lot
harder in, because
even though I
work harder, it
doesn’t mean I’m
necessarily going
to get the same grade as
I do in the classes that just kind of come
easily to me,” Montenegro said. “I just try to
work as hard as I can and put in my best
effort.”
Working hard, for some students, looks
9
8
7
like racing through their work to complete
their assignments in the shortest time possible.
But senior Shawnette Paysinger says
that if there’s anything she’s learned from
balancing a 40-hour workweek with her
dual credit schedule, it’s to pause in small
increments of time.
“You have to learn to just take a breath in
the middle instead of going to that point of
being completely overwhelmed,” Paysinger
said. “Just stop for a second. Meditate.
Take a deep breath. [You’ll see] it’s
not the end of the world and you’ll feel so
much better.”
While believing that
working hard is a good
idea, Marquez encourages
students to take
a break every once in a
while as well. She says
69%
of students
reported their daily
stress level as a
seven or above
on a scale of 10
out of 448
students polled
the counseling office
often deals with helping
students balance
their schoolwork with
their mental, social and
physical health.
“I hope [students] know
that we’re here for them
and that that’s why we’re
[counselors],” Marquez
said. “A lot of times we get
caught in all the testing,
scheduling stuff and kids
are like, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry to
bother you,’ but no, that’s
why we’re here. It’s to talk
to you guys. So come
on down.”
Being able to have that
balance and a variety of
activities in ones schedule
is quite helpful, according
to senior Raul Diaz. Although
he works over 30
hours a week, Diaz says
he makes time to relax
and have fun.
“My parents want me to
succeed in school so
I always try to do my
best — I always try
to get A’s or B’s,” Diaz
said. “But I make time
for the stuff I want to
do, too.”
Stressful situations
are inevitable
and ever-present
in people’s lives,
according to
Lansing, but
learning to
manage
them can
make all the
difference.
“When life
knocks the wind
out of [teenagers] —
because it will, it will
absolutely knock the
wind out of them — by
dealing with their issues
effectively right now, they’re going
to have the grit, the ability and the problem-solving
capabilities to move on and get
to better places,” Lansing said.