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.