These past few years, we’ve all felt some sort of stress, whether it’s social, academic or political. Now of course, some stress can be good, but in high school that can be different. High school students experience stress on a daily basis, to reduce stress, SHS has been making changes to daily life by including options at lunch such as the mindfulness lunch room, a place where students can eat without the loud and busy atmosphere of the cafeteria.
When asked, student counselor Ann Trocchio gave her opinion on this topic.
Q: Would you say the district as a whole puts pressure on its students?
A: I don’t believe the stress is from us at the school as much as it comes from each other. So I know as a school counselor, and I can’t answer for the whole district, because I don’t know what goes on in other buildings, so I could only answer from the high school, but I know as the director of school counseling we hope to send across the message of balance all the time, and we work really hard. But students tend to think that they have to be in every AP class, they have to be in certain classes, they’re never going to get into college. They have all these negative thoughts, and we always try to tell them that’s not realistic. I do think it comes from the community as well as that pressure with each other.
Q: What has SHS done to help its students?
A: I think we’ve done a lot here at SHS– we have the wellness center, which is being re-worked every year to meet the needs of our students. We have the mindful lunch room, for kids who are overwhelmed by the large size of the cafeteria and all the noise. We added an additional social worker last year, we have two student facilitators, [who]are social workers as well as encouraging the students to see their school counselors and that we don’t judge them. We make sure they know we are here for them for every reason. We’ve set up an appointment system so every student gets the time they need without interruption. There are links on our website with all emergency numbers as well. So we’ve really tried to help our students as much as possible.
Q: What is one stress management technique that works for you?
A: Well, every morning I wake up at 4:45, which I understand is not for everyone! But I go, and I work out–that really helps me, that really sets me up for the rest of the day. On the days that I don’t, because I’m tired, I realize that it throws off my day. I also do a gratitude journal every single day, which can look very different. It can be verbal or written.
Another interview with SHS Principal Erin Short dug deeper into administrator’s feelings into this topic.
