The first Wednesday in November was International Stress Awareness Day, which is one of the major awareness days that many people overlook. This is very important due to the fact that stress is the leading cause of many health issues and one of the most common emotions students feel.
“What causes the most stress for me is school,” said OH senior Juan Vargas. “Keeping up with my grades, turning everything on time, it’s just a lot of work to keep up, especially as you start getting into harder classes, To relieve stress I listen to music because it relaxes me and takes my mind off things.”
School may take a toll on some students, especially those who desire to be at an advanced level and have a lot of extra work. However, students do have various ways that they can acquire help in order to help manage their work better.
“Our school offers counselors, social workers, and school psychologists as resources. We also have a number of small groups running,” said Student Services Director and counselor to AVID and Multilingual students Patti Marcinko.
“One of the most popular groups we have is the Anxiety and Stress Management group. The main goal of social-emotional support at school is to help students be able to focus and be successful at OH,” she added.
Students have many resources that they can use when they are in need of help such as tutoring, in-class help, friends, teachers, and more. Students may have a hard time finding the right times to do their work or the motivation to, but as long as they work during class or take a little bit of time outside of class it will reduce their stress levels significantly.
One addition at OH is the Panther Pause room in Student Services. This space provides stressed students a place to calm down and regain a sense of peace.
“It’s only stressful if students let it be stressful. Students need to learn to manage their time, understand how to school better… like we do in AVID. They also need to make sure that they have their priorities straight. Put time in on the things that are important,” said senior AVID teacher Chad Pohlmann.
Students have many classes where they have to simultaneously focus on and complete their work for each one. Dedicating time and making sure they manage their time will not only prepare students for their futures, but it will also make their life so much easier.
I am a senior at Oswego High School, this is my first year being a part of the 42fifty staff. I am an Avid student and have been on varsity soccer for 3 years.
Great work!