“All college prep schools are struggling with helping everybody to stay calm, live in the present and enjoy the learning.” –Prue gershman Burroughs Counselor
ships at Fermilab, Argonne or local hospitals. So, students could leave campus and go work someplace to get real life experience.” Thus, having experienced work at schools with schedules that are unique from those most common to the U.S., Modzelewski believes that a possible source of the stress found in students is the rigid schedule. “Every day [at CHS], many students have the same schedule.” Modzelewksi said. “And while routine is good, it can also place pressure on students. And often times, if students do have a field trip or out-of-class commitment, they have to deal with a consequence because they missed class. And so I think the schedule, the way that it is designed, is hard on the students and teachers.” Yet, while Modzelewski believes that a variance in school scheduling could help to alleviate student stress, she acknowledges that the current system, which most schools across the nation have adopted, is essential to making curriculums work. “I’m not suggesting that we change the schedule,” Modzelewski said. “But I do think I’ve seen other environments where the schedule is more flexible and allows for a more harmonious balance rather than the grueling workload many of our students experience. For example, the AP curriculum puts so much material and cramming into so little time that it’s challenging to have many experiential, hands-on learning or cross-curricular integrative collaborations.” Modzelewski believes that if real change is to occur, it needs to begin at the source with reforms to the College Board’s curriculum. The College Board works to help students make the transition from high school to college by overseeing the Advanced Placement program as well as the SAT. “The AP is convenient because it’s a prescribed curriculum to do the work,” Modzelewski said. “Unfortunately, there’s just so much material crammed into so little time that you often lose the opportunity to experience hands-on learning because you can’t miss a single day of class. I think every student here wants to be challenged, whether it’s by an AP class or a regular class. However, there are just so many things that happen in a teen’s life that add to that stress that the rigid schedule can be the thing that makes it kind of difficult.”
COUNSELING AND FUTURE PLANS In response to the growth of stress among students, the counseling department at CHS has continued a long-term study that began several years ago in order to attempt to pro-
vide resources and change that will help to alleviate student stress. “It started when the ‘Race to Nowhere’ documentary came out a few years ago,” CHS counselor Alice Morrison said. “A lot of things were done at that time. The faculty has had professional development days centered around mental health. Recently, the health teachers, Aiello, the college counselors and grade level counselors have begun to examine the stress and anxiety in our students.” Morrison said that because CHS faculty and staff have recently requested more specific information regarding student stress, the counseling department has been conducting year-long surveys. One survey, orchestrated by CHS Counselor Joyce Bell, encompassed the freshman, sophomore and junior classes. The results of the survey are not yet available. “Basically, what we did was ask students to rate their stress, what caused the most stress and when,” Morrison said. Morrison believes that one of the greatest sources of stress may in fact be the students themselves. “The community, including students, needs to say ‘okay, what are we doing, and how can we help manage student stress?’” Morrison said. “But it is also the need within students to constantly listen and replace misinformation with accurate information. Furthermore, it is also important to educate parents on ways to help their children deal with stress.” As the counseling department continues to gather data, Morrison is hopeful of the strategies and solutions they will create to help students manage stress. “We have expanded our Professional Learning Community to include more people,” Morrison said. “Besides just the counselors focusing on these issues, we have invited others. We invited CHADS [Communities Healing Adolescent Depression and Suicide], which is an organization that focuses on suicide prevention and we have also met with service providers outside of here that deal with depression, drug and alcohol problems, along with other kinds of things. We’ve talked about bringing in focus groups and examining the coordination and curriculum in our school.” While there have been no changes in policy, Morrison is optimistic that their work will help the student body. “I’m not sure there is one sweeping policy solution that is going to take care of everything,” Morrison said. “But if we could come up [with a solution] as a faculty and student body that could help in any way, that would be incredible.”
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