High school can be considered a big brick box of burned out people.

Many students are stressed out of their minds between trying to retain all the information their teachers are attempting to cram into their brains in 45 minutes, and then trying to make it to work by 4 o’clock at the end of the school day. On top of all that, students worry about homework and having time for family too.

Teachers are also tense and tired, stressing about their busy lives. They have to make sure they are covering everything required and trying to make it interesting. They have to make sure their students are understanding what they’re trying their best to teach, and they need to have family time as well.

Teachers don’t always remember that students may have adult responsibilities despite their age. At the same time, sometimes students forget that teachers have outside lives and are just as stressed as they are.

For example, Louise Nicodemus, Geometry Inclusion and A/B and math intervention teacher, talked about how she tries to keep stress out of her work environment.

“Because I am a special Ed teacher, a lot of my job is getting extra paperwork done and I was really really really lacking in keeping up with what I needed to get done and when. It just got to be too much and either I was focusing on the kids or I was focusing on the paperwork and I couldn’t do both at the same time,” said Nicodemus.

When asked if she thought some of her students noticed that she was becoming a little overwhelmed, she answered, “A few of them, I think did. But overall my focus here at school are the kids, so I do have a tendency to push other things aside other than my students.”

Nicodemus deals with outside stress by keeping it outside of the building and only focusing on her students while at work.

Other teachers have some different methods. For example, Jason Whited has two jobs outside of teaching.

“I do real estate, and I’m also an Elvis tribute artist…”

After being asked what he does when he gets a little wrapped up and overwhelmed, he responded, “If it’s a problem I usually take a day, but it hasn’t been a problem yet and I don’t anticipate it becoming one.”

Basically, Whited decides to responsibly plan ahead and get himself out of a stressful situation by spending a day outside of work getting caught up and planning ahead.

So teachers get stressed and behind sometimes, just like students. Autumn Martin, a senior, manages to avoid positions where she could get possibly overwhelmed so that she doesn’t get behind.

“I work with my uncle doing landscaping. Also, I do color guard which can get sort of stressful sometimes. I avoid getting overwhelmed with school, sports, work, and family by giving myself a few hours in-between school, activities and other events like that,” stated Autumn Martin, senior.

Teachers and students can BOTH get overwhelmed sometimes, and that’s something very important to remember. High school is a hard environment to be in, but everyone has their own way of dealing with high-stress situations.

Whether you devote all your time to school and leave extra work for later, take a personal day, or maybe you just avoid these types of situations, you can probably agree that we are all struggling and we should consider this everyday when we walk through the school doors.