What stresses you out?

In the spirit of the stress relief lunch activities being held this week, this question seems to be running rampant on everyone’s mind. As more thought is put into this, more answers spur.

According to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), “Stress is your body’s response to anything that disrupts your normal life and routine.”

Throughout the course of junior year, the statement that this is the most important year of your life will be used a multitude of times. Parents, teachers, and elders constantly remind students of this, ensuring that it is inscribed in their brains. With that perpetual reminder that colleges are scrutinizing every move made throughout the course of this pivotal year, it can be difficult to find time for anything else.

“The SATs add additional pressure to my schedule because it’s hard to find a balance between school and prep work for college,” Kaitlin Stansel (’16) said.

Many juniors find the lack of time and exorbitant amount of work to be unbalanced and unfair. When thinking about the rest of your life, do you want it to be solely based on the outcome of a single four hour exam, or would you rather it be based off of hours of work and extracurricular activities. The thought is cringe-worthy and often terrifying.

“Junior year is really stressful but when you have the initiative to get into a college and present yourself different opportunities, you learn to just deal with it,” Celia Hans (’16) said.

Alongside standardized tests, the building of a resume is crucial. As of 2013, there were 316.1 million residents in the United States. In 2014, 3.4 million students graduated from high school and through the year 2020, there will be approximately 23 million students enrolled in college. These are the numbers that you have to define yourself from. As daunting of a task as this may seem, it is attainable, and the stress that comes along with it is manageable.

So how worthy is the end result?

“Being involved with many extracurricular activities as well as the academic rigor of school can be really stressful,” Anna Brogan (’16) said. “Especially while getting four hours of sleep every night but imagining getting into college makes it all better.”

The prize of receiving an acceptance letter from a top school is all that matters to many high school students. It is something that past generations had to do, it is something that current generations have to do and it is something that future generations will have to do.

“Just take one test at a time, go to extra help, get some exercise, and watch tons of Netflix on the weekend,” Hans said.