The dreadful thought of failure comes hand in hand with academics. This thought at the back of your head that you are at risk of failing can affect academics. According to the article “Family and Academic Stress and Their Impact on Students Depression Level and Academic Performance,” posted on the website National Center for Biotechnology Information, which is a science, healthy and biomedical research news service <https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9243415/> , “Several researchers have studied stress and depression elements from a performance perspective and reported that stress and depression negatively affect the academic performance of students.” 

  Junior Ashley Jarquin said, “My stress levels have definitely increased due to all the homework, grades, and the thought of the future on whether Ill be able to go to a good college or not.” “Academics and school can become incredibly stressful when homework and tests begin to pile up. Students who also have after school activities like sports and clubs are also more prone to this stress because time becomes limited,” said Junior Ashley Lambert. 

   This is the rough reality of the stress students are exposed to due to academics, but the stress does not stop just at school. It can also affect other parts of student’s life such as social and personal. 

   Junior Osmel Diaz states, “Academic stress sometimes just hits out of nowhere like when you least expect it. You can be having a fun time and suddenly have the worry of completing work or the stress about how your grades are doing.” Junior Melanie Mejia states, “I often stay up late doing my work and due to all my schoolwork and events I cannot go out as much as I’d like or indulge in my hobbies.” “Academic stress has affected other parts of my life such as sleep and social life because homework can pile up quickly, and before I know, it’s 11pm and I have been doing homework since I got home. This does not leave a lot of time for social activities during the weekdays especially, when you are involved in school activities and do not exactly get home early,” said Junior Ashley Lambert 

  On the other hand, some students do not consider their stress levels to be that high. “The biggest source for my academic stress is tests. Everything else is not that bad,” said Junior Crisitian Duarte. 

  How can we handle this stress effectively? According to the article “Managing Stress in High School”, by Pamela Reynolds, posted on the website Harvard Summer School, which is a school and research news service  <https://summer.harvard.edu/blog/managing-stress-in-high-school/ >, “Since too much stress is not a good thing for your mind or body, you should think about incorporating a few stress management techniques into your daily life,” Reynolds then gives several ideas on how to deal with stress such as: keeping a journal, getting plenty of exercise, eating healthy & regular meals, making sure you get enough sleep, reaching out to friends or family members who help you cope in a positive way, making time to do fun things, and many more.  

  When asked how students deal with all this stress they experience, they often say they like to do things wind down. Junior Melanie Mejia said, “I take time to myself to do something I enjoy like watching a cartoon of some sort or bake something.” Junior Ashley Jarquin said, “Whenever I’m stressed, I pray or go to church and turn to God.” “Whenever school gets overwhelming, I turn to my best friends and just hang out with them to forget about the stress and calm myself down,” said Junior Cristian Duarte.