Balancing Life And Stress As A High School Senior

Stress has been an ongoing issue lately for students. Stress such as distress can affect the way a student performs. Stress can affect student’s mental health and their academic performance in school. The importance of good mental health solely depends on the person and what the person is doing.

Typically in an academically challenging environment, students have to cope with activities they can do daily while in school. Mainly this article is going to focus on seniors and their mental health since it’s their last year of High School. While also dealing with school and college admissions.

Some seniors are interested in sharing their thoughts and opinions about their mental health and how they feel situated with filling out the FAFSA and determining which college is suitable for their circumstances. 

Caption: This picture by Stephanie Meade shows a sign saying “ College Just Ahead “ and many seniors are done with college admissions but have an overload of school work and other things they need to complete for their college which can affect seniors mental health.

Prioritizing mental health is important for students and we can see that to maintain a balanced lifestyle. Especially when it comes to mental health, what we find in common is developing ways we can adjust our lifestyle with obstacles surrounding us which makes us self-driven and full of perseverance.

Aria Kamal, a senior who is in the IT Networking shop class, wants to express how her mental health has been and ways we can cope with stress delivered by school and in general. 

“To cope with stress and stay mentally healthy as a student, Students should take regular breaks, prioritize sleep and healthy eating, exercise, hang out with friends, engage in hobbies, and seek help when needed,” said senior Aria Kamal.

Aria Kamal also wanted to share her college admissions process and how it was for her while dealing with the FAFSA. “ The college admission process went pretty well for me because I finished them pretty early like around November, and I didn’t have any issues with the FAFSA,” said Kamal. 

School and life balance can be hard to maintain especially as a high schooler, but making time to do such activities is essential to have good mental health. Brian Gomez a senior in the Electrical Installation shop class has something to share that students should prioritize for their well-being. 

“I think it’s about finding a balance between being a student and being a person. Though academics matter, not being able to take care of yourself isn’t going to make life any less miserable,” said senior Brian Gomez. 

Gomez also, like many other students, is filling out the FAFSA due to delays. It has also made it hard to decide which college is going to give seniors good financial aid. It also really impacts the college he wants to go to.

”It does since I want to see how much money I need to spend for each college I have in mind,” said senior Brian Gomez. 

What we find in the common trend this year is which college will offer me the best financial aid. Seniors collectively apply for college and have some idea of where they want to go, but the hard part is the decision-making process of which college will support them with as much financial aid as possible. Fatin Halim, a senior in the Architecture shop class, shares his journey in filling out the FAFSA. 

“FAFSA for me was easier than I thought because of everyone talking about the newest version, to me I did it all myself and it was easy. But the only thing is that it still hasn’t been processed yet so I don’t know how I’m going to know about my expenses for college,” said senior Fatin Halim.

Financial aid or the amount that is yet unknown for seniors affects what college seniors want to go to. Well, while we know that the college admissions process has been very tough for the class of 2024. Fatin also wants to share his stress levels and most importantly ways he has been dealing with distress. 

“My stress is always when there is an exam or any test. I think the best way to relax is to ease your mind and think about what should be the best thing to do for the test and take proper measures. Also listening to music can help,” said senior Fatin Halim.  

After interviewing some seniors we can see that having good mental health helps us be more self-efficient and have the capacity to do work, school, and other things that are our responsibility. Mainly, this article focuses on seniors and their mental health how the college admissions have been for the class of 2024, and how they cope with stress while doing school work and the college admissions process. 

Israfil Alsafa

Hello my name is Israfil Alsafa and I am a journalist writing for the technology section for the Edison Light. I am a senior enrolled in the Electrical Installation Program. I love helping others and being disciplined, honest, and hardworking. Technologies really interest me in how the world is growing substantially with vital tech, and as a senior who wants to become a future health leader as a nurse. I feel that tech is needed for the world in many careers.