School affects everybody differently; some good, some bad.  For some students it’s an escape and for others it’s just a place to be with friends. But nobody talks about the impact it has mentally, the part that slowly drains every student. Anxiety and stress are common in high school students, but how is this impacting Liberty students?

Studies by the National Institute of Mental Health show that 31.9% of high school students have some sort of anxiety disorder. Approximately 38% of female teens and 26.1% of male teens have an anxiety disorder. Other studies by the American Psychological Association show 37% of teens said stress causes them to feel overwhelmed. In addition, 30% of teens said they feel sad or depressed because of stress.

Five of the six students interviewed said they’ve noticed a decrease in their mental health since we’ve been back to school. All of them said that over breaks they still worry about school and grades but over summer they don’t stress.

“I don’t stress about school in the summer but over breaks I still worry about school,” sophomore Jordyn Menner said.

Grades lower than an A or B make them all stressed. Some say because their parents are strict and it makes them worry. For the others, it’s about college, keeping grades up to get into a good college.

Do teachers have an effect on stress levels? Addison Grawer, Alexa Popp and Kylie Scism said that teachers give a fair amount of work but they just have no motivation. While Jordyn Menner said they do give too much work.

Kylie Scism and Alexa Popp, varsity cheerleaders, said that balancing both cheer and school is hard. Having to keep grades up to stay on cheer and having practice everyday. Hy Vuong, a varsity football player, said too much homework and practice everyday makes it hard to focus on one thing. Hy gets less sleep ultimately making it hard to focus in school which makes him stressed. Canon Mathison, a varsity soccer player, said the same. Homework stresses him out leading to less sleep. When asked how sports affect their anxiety, four of the five who play sports said they get overwhelmed with their sport.

“No, I use sports as a way to not think about any other problems going on,” Mathison said.  

School is stressful for students, just not in the same ways for everybody. School is challenging but there are ways to help the stress and anxiety. Come up with a routine if you don’t have one, have time for yourself, homework, work or sports so you don’t stress yourself out about it. Talk to people, asking for help isn’t a bad thing. Listen to music to calm your mind and thoughts. Try to have a steady sleep schedule, don’t wear yourself out every night it makes school more challenging. But if those or other ways don’t work, sometimes all you can do is step back and put your mental health first.