Avari

My name is Avari. I am a junior in high school. I want to talk about how schools need to better address high-pressure environments and stressful workloads.

My high school experience has been plagued by an over-competitive school culture.

Sometimes I feel like I am living in a constant loop of work, where there is absolutely no room in my brain for anything but thinking about what homework awaits me and what I need to be getting done. This leads to me not taking care of myself and sleeping very little. When I pulled my hamstring a couple weeks ago, a part of me felt relieved—this forced me to stay at home and rest. Getting me out of the fast-paced environment of school. I think this is not an issue of one teacher or one band-aid solution, but instead an indication that the school-wide culture needs to change.

Many students at Amesbury High School are overextended and taking multiple honors-level courses or AP courses. The course schedule and extracurriculars we have access to is extremely meaningful. For example, I play tennis and have taken multiple Spanish classes. I also take a class on True Crime where I get to practice my reading comprehension skills while learning about various really interesting topics. The flip side of my course load is that I am very over-extended. Many of my assignments fall on the same week, leaving me burned-out and extremely overwhelmed. In these times, I wish that my teachers were more understanding and empathetic towards the responsibilities I, and other students, have. Some teachers are open to extensions, but there is also a cultural stigma around reaching out to teachers, admitting vulnerability, or asking for help.

Schools like mine would benefit from a greater appreciation for student mental health and burnout. Something my school does that is beneficial on this front is a “WIN” block every day of the week except Wednesday. WIN stands for What I Need and is an open 30-minute block built in to give us time to do what we need—talk to a teacher, finish an assignment, study for a test. Built-in time like this is nice because it is adaptable to what different individuals need to be successful. On Wednesdays, we don’t have WIN, we instead have advisory which no one, including the teachers, finds helpful. On advisory days we all really feel the difference in our days. It would be incredible if we had more built-in time to tailor our schedules for what we need to get done.

That being said, I, and my peers, are calling on legislators to fund the Safe and Supportive Schools initiative. Thank you very much for your time, attention, and consideration.