No avoiding the stress of this situation
Two weeks into the school year, the hallways of high schools are
once again crowded and filled with the aroma of freshly sharpened
pencils. Outside, campuses can be heard the echoing footsteps of
newly purchased shoes and the slight mumble of intertwining
conversations. The sweaty stench from the brutal workings of Hell
Week has already masked any new paint smell that may have remained
from a summer renovation of the gym rooms, where unwashed PE clothes
remain stuffed in lockers.
The 2003 school year has begun. The anxiety of a new year of
navigating our way through grades, sports, teachers, college
preparation and part-time jobs while trying to form friendships,
relationships and the weight of determining our futures is almost
unimaginable. These days there is a higher expectation of students,
and they are held more accountable.
Michael Vossen, principal of Newport Harbor High School, says,
“Every student’s reason for stress is different. A freshman is
expected to adapt into a new environment whereas juniors and seniors
are dealing with graduation requirements.”
For athletes, stress comes from competition that leaves them
pushed both physically and mentally. Keith Long, a football and
baseball player at Corona del Mar, says, “Practices are hell, and I
come home most days so sore that I fall on my bed and complain until
my mom brings me bags of ice. But it is all worth it once I step out
onto the field.”
With competition inevitable in a high school atmosphere, it is not
only the athletes competing. There is a very obvious division
socially on school campuses, and while it is understandable, the
stress alone of trying to find somewhere to fit in and feel
comfortable can wreak havoc on a 16-year-old’s emotions.
One female student from Newport Harbor says, “I was such a nervous
wreck on the first day of my junior year. I was so worried about
seeing everyone, even my closest friends. I spent weeks looking for
my outfit, but that morning I was in tears the entire drive to school
because I felt so insecure.”
So, I have to ask myself, what is it that makes a perfectly
attractive girl go into hysterics over something so unimportant. And
at what point did it become so acceptable for intelligence to become
shadowed by material things?
I do not understand why it is that we as teenagers compete for
acknowledgment for insignificant qualities, meanwhile completely
deserting any hope of recognition for our mental capabilities. If we
as young adults could solve that issue, then perhaps high school
would not be so stressful. Perhaps, then, life would not seem so
overwhelming during these four trying years.
* ASHLEY MICHAELS is a Newport Harbor High School junior whose
columns will appear occasionally in the Community Forum section.
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