As the end of the semester approaches, Anti-Stress Week aims to relieve students of some academic stress through various activities.
Like many past years, Carlmont’s Associated Student Body (ASB) hosted Anti-Stress Week activities such as Dogs in the Quad and featured a movie during lunch.
“Planning this week is very important because this is the time of year that many students, especially freshmen, are so nervous about. I feel that it’s important to reduce that first-time stress in any way we can,” said Mia Ikeda, a junior and member of ASB’s Positivity Commission.
This is not an uncommon experience for high school students. According to a study conducted by Pew Research Center in 2019, the majority of high schoolers felt lots of pressure about their grades.
“Every day, students come into the Wellness Center with academic stress that often results in anxiety and occasional panic. This increases during review week and finals, especially because students think this is their last chance to improve their grade,” said Shelley Bustamante, Carlmont’s crisis counselor.
However, many students use different tactics to combat this stress, becoming even more important as finals roll around.
According to Bustamante, activities like running, walking, swimming, and watching funny videos are some activities students can use to decrease stress.
Michelle Peng, a sophomore at Carlmont often pivots between subjects in order to manage the overload she feels.
“If I get tired of all my subjects, I will read a book I like, listen to music, or sleep,” Peng said.
Similar activities are used by ASB to decrease student stress at school.
This year, the Positivity Commission was in charge of planning for the lunchtime movies, while the Community Service Commission led the Dogs in the Quad event, where dogs go to the school, allowing students to pet and play with them.
“The Community Service Commission has been doing Dogs in the Quad for a while, and it is pretty easy to set up if they follow certain procedures. We also know it’s a very popular activity, especially during Anti-Stress Week, and will be coming back up during dead week as well,” Ikeda said.
The idea of a movie during lunch came from more traditional roots but was still similarly effective.
“A holiday movie in a quiet, dark room seemed like a great destressing activity to provide students with, so we capitalized on that for the activity this week,” said Bhavya Raman, a junior and facilitator of the Positivity Commission.
The popular holiday classic “Home Alone” was chosen as the lunchtime movie. Food such as hot chocolate, popcorn, and cookies were also provided to add to the welcoming atmosphere.
Despite not realizing it, the planning involved personal experience in figuring out how to deal with stress.
“I decompress by taking short breaks while doing my work. A lot of the time, I do that by watching movies and shows or just taking some time for myself. This worked out when we decided to do a movie during lunch with some food because it’s exactly what I would do,” Raman said.
Yet these events are not for everyone, especially as people find themselves studying during lunch, which could be a the leading cause of their stress.
“Anti-Stress Week is useful for other people, just not for me. I think the idea is wonderful, and the execution is brilliant. However, I’m not lucky enough to experience it,” Peng said.
Further, many students feel helpless to decrease their stress, struggling to balance their mental health and schoolwork.
“There is only so much I do to make myself feel better. It doesn’t matter whether I’m more stressed or not,” Peng said.
Regardless, these activities set up by ASB highlight the small steps people can take to relieve academic stress during the week.
“It’s important to provide whatever small things we can to alleviate the stress to any extent. It was amazing to see a couple of people come in at lunch and just sit peacefully by themselves or with a few friends enjoying the time to forget about all the commotion around them,” Raman said.
