The Blue & Gold

The official newspaper of Chamblee High School, preserving the past for the future today!

The official newspaper of Chamblee High School, preserving the past for the future today!

The Blue & Gold

The official newspaper of Chamblee High School, preserving the past for the future today!

The Blue & Gold

Stress and Stress Controversy

Stress+and+Stress+Controversy

At Chamblee, students are put on a high pedestal for their academic performance and good behaviour. Many students at Chamblee take Advanced Placement classes, allowing them to experience college-level courses while in the high school environment, and some do not take any. Either way, all students can certainly feel the stress levels rising as the year progresses.

I sent out a mental health questionnaire to 20 random students to assess the amount of stress students have over balancing school and everything else in their daily lives. The grades of these students ranged from ninth to twelfth grade, but only 14 responses were collected – all from juniors. Contrary to belief, the results related to schoolwork and stress were not what I expected.

Out of the 14 students that responded, only two are not taking AP classes this school year. One of those students, Brianna Harding, feels extremely stressed, even without the extra workload.

“I have a lot of out of school extra curriculars, and it’s junior year, so the workload is just a lot,” said Harding.

One of her biggest fears is the time when college applications will kick into high gear.

“I think it [lack of AP classes] matters in the sense that they [colleges] will see no AP classes on my transcript,” said Harding. “I’m a little nervous about the fact that they might automatically think I don’t try hard enough or go above and beyond.”

Sunrita Gupta, a star student who is very active in the school community, who commits to volunteer work and her newfound Red Cross Club, is taking a whopping six AP classes, yet feels barely any stress.

“When signing up for classes, I felt like I could manage it since I had experience with three AP classes sophomore year,” said Gupta. “I procrastinate way too much, but I somehow manage to get everything done and get more than six hours of sleep a night.”

When it comes to balancing everything along with more than two AP classes, Gupta can only give advice out of experience.

“Getting enough sleep is really important. Also, after stressing a lot about things last year, I learned that stressing about deadlines and assignments won’t change your grade, so definitely don’t do that. Learning how you study best is also important so you can save time and sleep more. I feel like my stress levels will increase with AP exams, but I also have less to do next semester, so maybe not. If you learn to manage your stress levels, you’re able to do everyday things much more easily and just enjoy life,” said Gupta.

On a scale of 1-10, the average stress level of all 14 students is around 7, putting the students at a high number for only being four months into the school year. While Chamblee, a school known for its supportive faculty, attempts to resolve some cases about students and their issues in the school community, many feel that the counselors are simply not doing it for them.

In the mental health survey, I asked the question, “Do you feel like you have a teacher or adult figure at Chamblee you could talk to if you needed to? If yes, please explain why.” Eight out of fourteen students responded, and it was 50/50 with “yes” and “no”. Ambar Ashraf responded with a short and simple “no”, while some gave further explanation.

“Not really,” Sophia Wiesenfeld answered, “and when I went to a counselor she seemed impatient and like she didn’t want to talk to me.”

When asked what gives students relief from stress, all 14 respondents said listening to music or creating music helped the most; the second most chosen was “socializing with friends”. So why does everyone feel they don’t have enough time in a day to balance everything at once?

Emma Axelson, who is taking five AP classes, has Dekalb Youth Symphony practice each week from 6:30-9:00, feels that she stresses about trying to balance school, a social life, and extracurricular activities every day. On average, she spends 3-4 hours a night doing homework, and after getting home around 9:30, she can definitely feel the impact of everything weighing her down.

“I don’t sleep as much as I should, and I make sure to work on homework whenever I have free time in any of my classes,” said Axelson.

Emma Axelson’s advice for incoming juniors on AP classes: “Think hard about that decision. You can do it, but make sure you’re good at managing your time.”

For some, the joy of learning has been run down by the race to perfection and high-scoring academic achievements; for others, the joy of learning has yet to make its mark. While we students sit and let our stomachs churn at the mere sight of a 30-page-reading assignment the night before the quiz, we fail to remember that in order for us to have a voice, we actually have to try and speak.

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Caitlin Jeffers, Author

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