Throughout high school, adults are constantly reminding us teenagers that the decisions we make now will follow us for the rest of our lives. They never cease to remind us about college expectations, SAT scores, AP classes, future careers and the rest of our lives, which rests upon the insecure foundation of our high school careers.
Our names are Rebecca and Elizabeth and we know as well as any other teenager how overwhelming high school can be. Between school, homework, extra curricular activities, and even a job there is bound to be mayhem and stress involved. For our AP Language class we had to choose a subject in which we are passionate about to do a 20% project. What is 20%? The 20% project includes having one day per week (20% of our school year) to work on a project of our choice. We both knew how discouraging it was to constantly feel the pressures of the world on our shoulders while simultaneously walking through the dreaded halls of high school. That is why we chose to center our 20% project around stress/school. Our goal has been to help change the mindsets of our fellow classmates because we should all be able to enjoy our high school experience rather than have a having a panic attack every time we hear the word school. In order to achieve our goal of calming the nerves of students everywhere, we decided to interview a wide range of people. We asked the same questions to students in high school, adults with families/careers, and elderly people (Ex: "What advice would you give to your younger self?"; "how did education affect your life?"etc.) We have also done extensive research on the relative stress teens face in high school as well as how education and stress has affected the older generation. This information gives some insight and clarity as to how high school really affects your future and why you should sit back and enjoy the ride instead of biting your fingernails with every new high school task.
In starting this project we weren't exactly sure what we wanted to do with the information we had. We knew we wanted to formulate a list of questions to ask people in an interview format and we also knew that we wanted to use these questions to help people in someway. We wanted to connect this to something we are passionate about so that our best efforts would be put into this project, but we just weren't sure how to do that at first. Both of us share an interest in conversing with the elderly as we find the both wise and intriguing, so we knew we also wanted to incorporate that into our research/project as well. We started thinking about problems that we face in our everyday lives and one of the first things that came to our minds was our constant stress about school, grades, and how these factor into our futures. As we knew, many of our fellow classmates also faced the same issues with the constant fear of school and how our decisions would affect us and so we decided we wanted to help relieve some stress. After interviewing some elderly people from the Plaza at Clover Lake assisted care facility, we got so much clarity and insight on the sheer beauty of life. After our interviewing process at the elderly home was completed, we decided to interview a few middle aged people, so we sat down with our teachers. Their responses gave us some understanding about the stress they faced before their careers and the stress they faced in their careers as well as how more recent education has affected them. They gave us great insight as to how to cope with an overwhelming amount of stress. So with all this advice and insight from people who have already been through what we teens are going through, we wanted to share this information with high schoolers as a reminder that everything works out.
We interviewed a number of high school students and similar responses to our questions were prevalent. We asked questions such as "How has education affected your life?" and "Do you feel like school stresses you out on an unhealthy level?" An overwhelming amount of students ( about 82%) interviewed admitted that they feel that school takes an exhausting toll on their lives. Although, these teen's responses included how beneficial their education is to their life, they also dwell on the fact that it causes an unnecessary amount of chaos in their daily lives. The most interesting responses we got was for the question "Do grades matter?"Many of our interviewed high school students answered that grades shouldn't matter, but with the way our education system is they do matter a lot. Adults may say "grades don't define you" but saying that to a teen, as many of you know, will only release a giggle from our mouths because of the sad fact that as much as we do not want it to be true it is simply an undeniable fact that grades really do matter at this point. According to the interviews of teens, grades are every thing and many are willing to risk their mental, emotional, and physical health in order to perform at their best for the grade. We also asked the question "What is something you are proud of?" Most students said that they are most proud of their accomplishments in school. So as much as school stresses teens out every day, their grades are their most prized possessions and they will do anything to keep them in tip top shape. Some may ask "Why are students so stressed about their grades?" When we asked this question, the responses were about the same. Most said that they worry so much about school because of their fear of getting into a good college, having a good career, and being successful and happy in life. Personally speaking, these are very legit worries that we worry about too everyday. After speaking to the adults, we realized that it doesn't have to be that way and that we don't have to run ourselves out of energy for a grade. Believe it or not, after speaking to people who have been through this time already, we realize that although they matter, grades do not define us (no giggling please).
Upon going to the Clover Plaza in Carmel, NY and interviewing a numerous amount of older people (mostly women), we realized that not one of the ladies mentioned school while making small talk about their childhood. Although school did not come up in small talk, they did speak about how vital education is in life once we asked the question "How has education affected your life?" One of the women whom we interviewed talked about her life as a Jewish child in Germany during world war 2. She told us her heart wrenching story about how she fled alone to England under a program that saved Jewish children during the Holocaust. She later found out her parents were killed by the Nazis. Her house in Germany had been broken in to and her father's business had been destroyed by the Nazis. When she left her life in Germany for the safety of England, this 17 year old was forced to learn english. Thanks to her educational background and her motivation to broaden her educational horizons, she shared with us that she carried around an English to German book and a German to English book on a string around her neck and learned the new language in two weeks. When she saved up the money and learned as much as she could, this holocaust survivor moved to America to start a new life. When hearing about the hardships that this women went through as a teenager compared to the issues we are going through right now, it makes us feel a lot more grateful for the life we live. Some advice that these elderly women gave us that we wanted to share with you include, "Do what you can even if it's not what you think", "With good health you can overcome anything", "Never go to bed angry", "Age is what you make of it" and finally a quote that really struck us both was "Your life is a puzzle, pieces come together as you live, and you become a whole person". This advice has completely changed our lives. After discussing our project with one another we both realized something. Going into this project and this year, we both had a fixed mindset(a mindset that thinks that traits and experience are fixed). Hearing all of the advice from these people caused us to attain a growth mindset. Our entire outlook on life has changed. We have realized that time is what we make of it, school is what we make of it, and stress especially is what we make of it. One central thing we have learned is do not wish away your time, for no matter how stressful school becomes in the end you will be okay. This leads us to the most important question we asked both age groups "Are you happy with your life?" Every single person we asked that question to answered yes. This is our point. No matter what happens in your life, don't worry because you will end up happy. :)
We know that it seems so hard right now and that it literally feels like the end of the world will approach if one grade falls below your harsh expectations, but according to people who have been through the same situations already, that is not the case. Do your best because that is all you can do. You will be fine because everything turns out the way it is supposed to turn out.
Don't forget to stay tuned for more posts through out the summer and the following school year!
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