Education guide: Managing school stress
Published: Sunday, March 18, 2012, 12:05 AM
By Kelly Huth | The Express-Times
Article from lehigh valley live

 

Express-Times Photo | BILL ADAMS

Megan Halkins, of the Weller Health Education Center, presents her program stress management to students at Pocono Mountain Intermediate School.

Will I get accepted into the school I want? Will I be able to get the grades I need? Can I afford it?

Those are just the some of the stresses running through the minds of college-age students.

Jessica McKinney, guidance counselor for Belvidere High School, says high school seniors go through pockets of stress throughout the year.

“I don’t know that we have kids complaining about stress, but you can see it in their face,” McKinney says. Her job is to offer tips and pointers for dealing with the pressure of deciding the next four years of their lives.

The kids are only in school a week, before McKinney says they start talking about colleges. From the beginning of October until about Christmas break, they have the stress of filling out applications.

“Then the kids see a slight decrease in stress once the applications have gone out — unfortunately that doesn’t last long,” she adds.

The pressures of “will I get in” fade to “will I afford it?” But it’s a stress for parents too, McKinney adds.

The key is preparing early. McKinney says they start advising sophomores to plan for the stressors of senior year and remind them to do a little at a time.

 

Express-Times Photo | BILL ADAMS

Megan Halkins of the Weller Center presents her stress management program to students at the Pocono Mountain Intermediate School.

Putting it into perspective

Seniors are by far the most frequent visitors to guidance, says Katherine Schuma, guidance counselor for Hackettstown High School.

And for the higher achieving students, the wait may be longer as the Ivy League and competitive schools wait until April to send out decisions.

“So if you haven’t heard from anybody yet you’re kind of getting a little nervous,” Schuma says.

Her advice for students, hard as it may be to hear, is that everyone ends up exactly where they need to be.

“You have to tell kids it’s going to be okay. They might not go to their first choice, but they will go to college,” Schuma says.

And if they don’t get into their dream school, it may be because the professor who is going to inspire and enlighten them to be an amazing human being who gives back to the world, is at the next school on their list.

It helps students to put the stress into perspective by realizing that college is a stepping stone.

“Tell them all to relax. It’s a stressful time, but in the realm of life, are you more concerned where you go to school or who you marry?”

Making stress a positive

Stress can be a good thing, says Joe Webster, Director of Education for the Weller Health Education Center. “It depends on how you deal with it,” he says.

The Weller Health Education Center prepares 43 programs, such as eating healthy, sexual education and stress management, to deliver to area school students in grades K through 12.

Stress lessons are usually delivered in the beginning of the year as students are dealing with transitions. They target students in middle school through ninth grade, Webster says.

They use Koosh balls in a juggling exercise to illustrate the point to students that if you try to take on everything on your own, you may drop everything.

For younger students, Webster says it’s important to emphasize healthy eating and getting exercise, talking about their issues and focusing on things within their control, as stress management techniques.

Aim for positive reinforcement — you can handle this.

For parents, if they notice their child is getting stressed — talk to them. “You don’t want to get to the point where they’re standoffish,” Webster says.

“If they don’t try to deal with it, it can lead to a lot of things,” Webster says, citing getting sick and missing school time as potential outcomes.

Younger students can manage stress by utilizing a planner to help them practice good time management.

It’s a balance between wanting to help and not pushing your child away by coming on too strong. Webster advises, seek professional help if the situation worsens.

“As much as we want to get rid of stress in our lives, it’s impossible,” McKinney says. “We have to deal with it.”

Article from lehigh valley live