By Madeline Roper ‘21
Sophomore year is a year of change, self-growth, and learning. Sophomores are no longer the youngest in the school, but still don’t have everything figured out, and added stress doesn’t help. From the pressure of learning to drive, studying for the ACT and SAT, social changes, and classes getting harder, stress is constant.
An article in The Hill shows that school is responsible for 83% of stress in high school students. For sophmores, this is caused by an increase in work-load and challenging material, from the previous year. In turn, adding a layer of much unwanted stress for most.
Sophomore Meg Marrs says that the workload this year is much harder and less-forgiving than last year. “I have at least two hours of homework a night, and I play field hockey so it’s really hard to get things done sometimes.”
Marrs isn’t the only sophomore placed in such a precarious situation. As sophmores, Regan Vandervelde, Ellie Turner, and Kayla Bane all participate in sports taking place after school. Thus, diminishing the small amount of time they were initially given for academic purposes.
“I ride horses outside of school in addition to field hockey, so sometimes I don’t get home until 9:00, and then I have to eat dinner, do my homework, and still try to get enough sleep.” Turner says.
A study from Nationwide Children’s (Hospital) depicts statistics on the lack of sleep teenagers tend to get. It states that the “average amount of sleep that teenagers get is between 7 and 7 ¼ hours. However, they need between 9 and 9 ½ hours.” It proceeds to explain that this lack of sleep is due to a “biological shift in an adolescent’s internal clock”, early high school start times, and social/academic obligations.
“Even though most of us are tired and stressed, I wouldn’t want to go to school anywhere else.” Vandervelde states, “Sophomore year can be hard for everyone, and I think it’s important to know that everyone is going through their own stress, you just might not be able to see it.”