Wrinkles and grey hair: the signs of stress after years and years. But what happens when 17 year old students start coming to school with grey hair and wrinkles?
No, this isn’t Benjamin Button. No, it isn’t stage make up for the upcoming school play. And no, it is not another sociological experiment.
This could be the future of teens as they deal with more and more stress than they have ever before. A study cited by a USA Today article showed that high school students today are five times more stressed than they were during the Great Depression, meaning that today’s teens are more stressed with making it in the world than they were when teens were going through the greatest economic downturn the United States has seen since its creation.
So why are teens so stressed? A study conducted by the Associated Press and Music Television showed that homework, college, work, relationships, financial issues and family contributed to 69 percent of high school students’ (ages 13-17) stress.
Students busy with work, homework, relationships and other things tend to fall into the ‘stressed’ teen category. Students like junior Jonan Heitman have found their own ways for dealing with the stress of everyday life.
“I golf for two hours every day. That’s what keeps me afloat. If I don’t golf for two hours a day, I’m dead,” Heitman said.
Some students, however, don’t have the luxury of time or even a computer, adding the stress to their plate as inevitable papers are assigned.
“[Balancing time] would be a lot easier if I had a computer myself. Because on top of having a job and going to school any paying bills and stuff, I don’t have a computer. So I have to find time to get to a that’s what’s really hard about writing papers. I have to manage my time and I have to manage when I work because I can’t just take off multiple days of work just to do this homework because I have to pay bills. But I can’t neglect my homework either,” senior Harmony Tyndall said.
According to Heitman, however, neglecting things can be seen as a necessity at times.
“Don’t overload yourself. You need to prioritize because chances are if you overload yourself, something’s going to suffer. So prioritize and let that one thing that you have to let suffer, suffer,” Heitman said.
However, for those who cannot let their job or homework suffer, maintaining the determination to finish can be hard, but is a necessity to get a better job for the future. Motivation to keep going is key, no matter what that motivation is.
“It’s so nice that I’m graduating early so next semester I’m just going to work and [life will] be easier. And just the thought of be accomplishing graduating early is almost like a ‘Come to Jesus’ moment. Like I get so excited it gets hard to breathe. I think that’s what my motivation is; that soon this will all pay off,” Tyndall said.
Tyndall’s other motivation stems from societal pressures to be better than the last generation and earn a college degree.
“Just to have all of the determination to get where you wanna get and hard working because you have no choice [can keep you going]. That’s what it really is, the fact that you have no choice. And I’m not about to be like them at all which is another motivation [that I have]. I don’t want to be a single mom. I want to go to college. I want to have a career and make something out of myself,” Tyndall said.
For junior Sarah G. Jones, her motivation comes from a love of what she does in the high school and her goals of being a good student and preparing for her future. It also helps that she knows where her priorities are. Knowing where her priorities are also helps her stay motivated.
“I balance [all of my activities] by knowing where my priorities are, I also have a schedule book where I put everything in and it helps me organize my thoughts immensely. Also I make sure that if I say I’m attending a certain event and then another event comes up I make sure that I go to that first event because I committed to it first,” Jones said.
When it comes to priorities, junior Ryan Priesmeyer has sleep at the top of his list, except when there’s AP U.S. homework to be done.
“Sleep actually takes a precedence in my life. I try to get to bed by 10:30 p.m. whether or not my homework is done, which isn’t always a good thing. But I think sleep-wise it’s better for me. Last night I was up until 3:30 a.m. working on AP U.S. because I had procrastinated that bad,” Priesmeyer said.
Whether it’s staying up until 3:30 a.m. doing homework, or worrying about the electric bill getting paid, the going can get tough for some teens, and sometimes it’s the little things in life that keeps them going.
“My dad gave me this to put on my key chain. He bought a Mercedes GOK and he got this (key chain) for free to go with it. I want to be an orthodontist when I’m older so he says to keep this on my keychain to keep me motivated… I’m trying to make things easier for later on in life,” Heitman said.