High School students face daily challenges and with the stressful demands of high school finals those stresses can become overloaded. Students have to attempt to balance school work, sports, jobs, and accommodate time for friends and family as well. Studying can then be placed on the back burner for some students.
As winter break approaches, midterm finals are becoming more prominent in students’ lives as hours of studying can begin to take a toll. “High school can be demanding because we have seven classes in the school week that are constantly throwing information at us and expect us to get all our work turned in on time and correctly. It may not be as hard for some compared to others but it can get to be too much especially while having extracurricular activities,” said junior Maddie Scott.
Weeks can begin to feel long, when trying to get work wrapped for all seven classes to prepare for finals. “Fridays are very demanding,” said senior Cooper Contrucci. Specifically, all block days can be the biggest struggle for some students, as they learn new material for all seven classes on top of continuing studying.
Alongside extracurricular activities students also balance their jobs outside of school to maintain some sort of income. Going from school to work, just to do it all over again the next day, can take a toll. “I just need a break to relax from everything for a week. No work and no school,” said Contrucci. Some seniors have lighter schedules, yet still have other priorities outside of school that can cause larger workloads.
According to the National Library of Medicine, many studies have found that school demands and challenges can drive the stress in adolescents. This can impact one’s physical and mental health which makes seasonal breaks so important for students, alongside staff.
The expectations high school places on students can be difficult to achieve and breaks become vital to help maintain self-care. “We all deserve breaks during the school day. I understand we have AST but we are expected to work during that time and lunch isn’t long enough,” said Scott. With little time in the school day to relax, students wait for the next time to rest.
“I find myself thinking about the weekend and counting down the days for the next break,” said junior Will Bensman. Students crave a sense of relaxation when the occurring stress of the entire semester begins to present itself.
