The stress of seclusion on students

ATHABASCA – Between the responsibilities of academics and the challenges of real life combined, stress levels among high school students are already notoriously high, but with the closure of schools across the country due to the threat of COVID-19, many students are learning to cope with all new levels of stress, while others actually say they are less stressed than before.

“It has definitely increased,” explained Eric Zimmer, a Grade 10 student at Edwin Parr Composite School in Athabasca. "We still don’t know really how long we are going to have to be like this or how we are going to end up.”

Many other students feel stress has decreased because of the break from classes and being able to stay home. Various people were also excited about online learning, stating that they felt the individual environment would make it easier to focus on school work. 

“It’s probably going to be beneficial for me because I tend to work better in my own environment without the distractions of a classroom full of people,” Zimmer added.

While a lot of students see the closure of schools as the proper reaction to the virus, Grade 9 EPCS student Seth Schmitty believes it was a knee jerk reaction based on how the virus doesn’t seem to affect youth as badly as older patients. 

“It is an overreaction,” he said. “It doesn’t affect young people anyway.” 

Numbers from the Alberta government show the 30-39, 40-49 and 50-59 age groups are the most affected by the illness, but the 10-19 and 20-29 age groups are hardly unaffected, which makes it important for all ages to maintain social distancing and practice good hygiene to protect others as well as themselves.

Other students, however, supported the decision, even suggesting it came later than it should have. 

“The closure was necessary and should have happened sooner,” said Keelan Osoba, a Grade 10 student at EPCS.

Classmate Toby Hindy, who is also in Grade 10, stated the closure was “annoying," after the many disruptions they have faced.

Even in this dire time, many of the students said that not everything about being stuck at home is horrible. 

“I feel that now I can focus more on my core classes,” said Grade 10 student Klara Jodry after hearing about the change to the curriculum students would be focussing on. 

Not only did they believe there would be more time to focus on the important subjects, but plenty of teens discussed having more time to spend with family members and to work on projects of their own.

Sascha Smethurst is a Grade 10 student who is relying on something familiar with all students to keep in touch with friends — technology.

“I’ve mostly used FaceTime and text messaging,” Smethurst explained. “A little bit of social media too.” 

Many younger students have been using Messenger Kids to keep in touch with their friends, a parent-monitored program that allows them to both text and video call their friends. 

When asked about the fact that major events in his high school career such as graduation would be cancelled Rylan Wagner, a Grade 12 student at EPC, commented, “I’m missing out on my last year of school with my friends. Missing out on the daily antics and fun times spent with those people is pretty disappointing.” 

“I’d say my stress has been decreased because it’s kind of up to me to do the work with all of the time we have on our hands,” Wagner explained, still looking to the bright side despite the disappointment. “Finding motivation is definitely harder though.”

What seems to be the biggest concern is how social distancing is affecting everyone’s mental health. 

Some students have voiced how feeling “trapped” in their own homes is affecting their mood, especially with not being able to see the friends that they have grown used to seeing on an almost daily basis. 

“I do miss seeing my friends but I understand why they want us to keep our distance,” Osoba said. “I want to see them but I don’t want to see them hurt.”

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