Less Stress, No Mess
By now, we know that too much stress is bad for our health and that we need to reduce stress in our daily lives. But how? Students, teachers, and parents all contribute to significant amount of stress in students’ lives. Here are some ways our community as a whole, not just students, can reduce stress in schools.
Teachers
Teachers may want to consider having meetings every month or so to coordinate better on major assignments so they’re not all due the same day. Maybe switching off each unit between the departments would help space out and even the assignments all due in the week so that students aren’t trying to cram it all in.
Another thing teachers can reconsider is the fact that sometimes we don’t need to have a test, paper and a project all in one unit. Maybe reconsidering and switching off between unit exams and large research papers each unit would reduce the amount of stress each student goes through. Remember: most students also have six other classes that they need to worry about too!
An easy adjustment, but a huge difference, could be reducing the number of problems in math and reducing the number of book pages needed to be read in English classes. Reading more than four chapters in a book each night is unrealistic, and this only results in the students feeling like they are forced to use websites like Spark Notes. For math teachers, sometimes there may be only a few problems for homework, but some problems can more than ten minutes, and each problem takes up half a page! Especially if a student is struggling in a certain area, homework will take twice as long because of the constant referral to notes and the time it take to get through homework. If teachers remembered the time spent on each problem on each assignment, or the amount of time it actually takes to get through huge novels, it might be a good idea to ease up. Pres girls have six, sometimes seven classes to keep up with and the stress levels we all have cannot be contained.
Students
Listen to Music—Play your favorite song and sing along. This is a great way to relieve your stress. Just start blasting Lady GaGa and dance along like nobody is watching. Dancing pumps up the amount of endorphins in your brain, causing you to feel good. Who would feel angry after listening to Bad Romance?
Go for a Walk—This allows you to have some relaxing alone-time away from the stress of daily life. It gives you exercise and time to clear your mind and think about what is bothering you; the fresh air will make you feel more relaxed. So the next time you are free during collaboration, take a walk by yourself or with a group of friends. Either way, you’d be away from school and stress for at least an hour.
Time management— Use your planner to keep track of all of your homework assignments. As you finish each assignment, you feel accomplished when you check them off. And you know what work needs to be done.
Do your work earlier rather than later. Many kids stay up until odd hours trying to do their homework. Try to get it done earlier, or maybe use your free period or collaboration time. The later you do you work, the shorter your attention span becomes. Doing homework in the morning is actually more efficient because you are alert and awake rather than sleepy.
Sleep—Our speaker said that teenagers need nine hours of sleep. This is really hard, considering how much homework we get at Pres (half-an-hour homework policy? Really?). But this goes along with managing your time better. Do not let your homework pile up. Sort out your priorities—what is more important: checking your Facebook or studying? This way, you won’t waste your time with activities that are less important, and you’ll have more time to sleep.
Take breaks—Schedule short breaks throughout your day to reduce stress. Stretch, read a book, call a friend, or go for a walk. This refreshes your mind and will give you a break from constant studying. This can be the time you check your Facebook; but make sure to get back to doing your homework soon!
Think positively—You need to be optimistic. Focusing on the negative will only bring you down. Do not think about that Econ paper you have to write or how you failed that Pre-Calc test. Instead, try to focus on what you have finished so far. Tackle each assignment one at a time and think about how efficient you are with managing your time.
Parents
Students stress themselves out enough on their own with the constant worry of college. Now, even freshmen in high school are beginning to feel the pressure of having perfect grades all four years. Parents, do not typically help the problem either. The constant talk about college at home makes students feel even more pressure than they already do, which is detrimental to student health because the home should be a stress-free environment. “I know parents who have straight A students that constantly check Parent Connect every day,” said junior Jennifer O’Brien. “The students feel that they need to try harder when they have enough stress already.” Also, parents need to understand that where their daughter attends college is unrelated to their success as a parent. “College should be a decision based on personal interest and success, not parent interest and success,” said O’Brien. Overall, limiting the amount of conversation time spent discussing college is a great way parents can help their children be less stressed and enjoy high school.
Discussing college on a regular basis isn’t the only thing parents discuss too much; the same goes for grades. There are many parents who regularly, even daily, check Parent Connect. “My mother checks Parent Connect almost every day. Having one bad grade or missing assignment can determine if I am allowed to go out that weekend,” said senior Cece Franchi. Living in this world of constant stress and punishment will result in students losing confidence and being unhappy with their academic and social lives. It is important that parents recognize that this academic monitoring of their daughter is not helpful in the end.
Another factor of parent-related stress is competition. Students typically aim to be their best and when a student has the lowest grades among their friends, it can create lots of stress in the form of unspoken competition between friends. Parents add to this type of stress by comparing their child to other students. “I haven’t personally experienced this at home, but attending Presentation has allowed me to see the stress this kind of comparison can put on friendships and none of it is healthy,” said senior Lauren Lane. “It is sad to see because it makes students feel so insecure about themselves.” This competition and insecurity is something extremely harmful to the well-being of students that can easily be avoided. Not comparing their daughter to other students is a step in the right direction that parents can take in order to reduce their child’s stress.
One extremely significant way that parents can limit the stress their daughter feels during high school is to let their child have the freedom to make her own choices with college and careers. Otherwise, parents can cause immense amounts of stress on students. “Stress is definitely caused by the topic of careers. Not necessarily meaning what a student wants to do with their life, but what they are forced into doing because it makes money,” said O’Brien. “Parents focus too much on what pays well and therefore force their child into that field.”
Teachers, parents, and students: please take these suggestions to heart. Stress is a result of many different factors—peer pressure, parent pressure, teachers’ expectations, college. To effectively address the problem of stress in schools, a global solution is necessary. Parents and teachers both need to realize that we are all part of the problem, and we all need to be part of the solution.
All Stars On and Off the Field
We often find it difficult to listen to the wisdom of elders, teachers and parents. We would rather drown them out with iPods and remixes of the latest and most popular music than listen to the trite spiels discussing educational values. But sports give off a different effect. Sports often teach students lessons and skills without the 60-minute lecture attached. Student athletes learn to budget their time, collaborate with others and take responsibility for their actions.
“My academic life revolves around my planner,” said junior Emily Wolf who plays field hockey for Presentation. Involvement in sports forces students to take their work seriously, allotting time in their evening routine for papers, projects, reading assignments and last minute cramming. The lack of excess time after school often minimizes the amount of time students waste lurking on Facebook or vegging out on the sofa. In fact, according to a study at Marietta College, student athletes performed better during season than out of season. Optimal GPAs were achieved following regularly scheduled practices, games and work out sessions.
Betsey Stevenson, an economist at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, said, “It’s not just that the people who are going to do well in life play sports, but that sports help people do better in life,” she said, adding, “While I only show this for girls, it’s reasonable to believe it’s true for boys as well,” following an extensive study on sports participation and educational achievement.
Sports teach athletes long-term skills and assets needed for success in the real world. It promotes and indirectly emphasizes team building, leadership, endurance, positivity, problem solving, creativity and the ability to read others. Athletes are expected to envision the field or area of play through strategic analysis and accurate body positioning. Athletes must learn to work well with others in order to achieve a greater goal, mediating disputes and reconciling differences. This is the key to team cohesion and ultimately success.
The emergence of team solidarity develops through the ties of friendship and sisterhood. Friendship, more so than any score or trophy, is a lasting testimony to the success of any team. Friends are tangible memories, serving as the legacy of the team and its accomplishments. “Friends become family,” said sophomore Kayla Bose who plays varsity basketball. While knees, joints, and other body parts may give out over time, bearing the scars of a dedicated athlete, friends will last forever.
Spending time out on the field is also said to relieve stress and the burden of excessive amounts of homework. According to an article by Joseph Plazo of StressLive.Com, “It’s imperative to partake in physical exercise because inspiring the body refreshes the mind. Our brain requires activity by the rest of our body in order to regenerate the senses and enhance performance.” Exercise is an essential component of mental and physical help, much like sleeping and eating. Junior and golfer Jessie Walsh said, “Sports is an outlet for stress. It gets your mind off school.”
For many Presentation students, dedication to both sports and academics is a testament to their willingness to balance their lives in order to learn lifelong skills, forge bonds of friendship, and relieve stress on the court, field, diamond, green, track, or wherever their sport takes them. Despite the struggles of the daily balancing act, many students find involvement in sports rewarding. For some, it boosts self-esteem and confidence along with lasting implications for their future.
Sports are teachers without white boards, tests without grades, and homework assignments without point values. Athletes are evaluated by their ability to work with others, make progress, and think logically. It’s not about whether you make the grade; it’s about learning from mistakes and taking away the greater message.
But, technology can be frustrating!
Now almost a decade into the 21st century, the world has witnessed a technological revolution that has given rise to a multitude of other gadgets that have made life more convenient. However, has this technological revolution infected the classroom as well?
At times, some teachers assign students projects that are outside the realm of a typical assignment, such as the creation of a video or audio clip. These projects, though intended to be beneficial to students because they offer new avenues of communication, are unfair when they lack necessary prior instruction.
It is undeniable that teenagers are becoming increasingly adept with technology. However, as mentioned by Mr. Cozort, just because students are technologically skilled does not mean they automatically have the ability to utilize video-making programs that they have never used before.
Editing a video or creating an audio clip is a complex process to students who are not as tech-savvy as others. Some students, although they may have the knowledge to create an “A-worthy” project, are unable to due to their inability to harness the technology required.
While it is still appropriate for teachers to assign tech-projects, it is also necessary for teachers to ensure that students have proper instruction so that they may perform the task at hand well. By providing a detailed tutorial, teachers will then enable students to produce higher-quality material.
Facebook: Adult Attraction
On any given day, hundreds of millions of people return home from school or work to log in to their Facebook accounts. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Facebook is a social networking site that people use to catch up with old friends, share pictures, and make new friends. It is a tool that you may use to remain connected to other classmates and family.
Many high school students who use the site assume that their parents are only on Facebook to check up on them, so they are not aware of the gigantic growth of adults on the site, other than, of course, their parents. But of Facebook’s reported 300 million active users, 36.3 percent are over the age of 35. This might not seem like much, but their numbers have been quadrupling in the past year.
In fact, in June 2008, people between the ages of 18 and 24 made up 53 percent of the Facebook community, but in July of this year, they totaled only 25.1 percent. They went from comprising a small majority to only one fourth of the website’s users. Their numbers have remained generally stable, while those between 35 and 54 years old grew 190.2 percent. They almost tripled in number over the course of a year. Even more surprisingly, Facebook went from having 954,680 users over 55 years old to 5,859,160. Almost 5 million people over the age of 55 have joined Facebook in the past six months.
Many may not know this, but our own Presentation teachers are contributing to the growth of adults on Facebook. Many like Mr. and Mrs. Cozort, Ms. Raposa, Mrs. Livingston, and Mrs. Stampfl all use Facebook to stay in touch with old friends from high school and college. “It’s really neat to find people you haven’t seen in fifteen years and see what they are up to,” Mrs. Livingston said.
Although they all use the site for varying reasons, all of them appreciate the ability to find old friends. They also dislike the same aspects. Mrs. Stampfl and Mrs. Cozort both shared their aversion to the new format of the site, but were able to adjust quickly. Mrs. Stampfl is happy with Facebook because she can contact her friends without worrying about interrupting them or calling at an inconvenient time. However, she also has some grievances with the site. She dislikes being updated on people’s progress in games or quiz results in her news feed. She also said, “I also don’t like receiving 10 different types of gift applications for which I need to install another application. I hit ignore for most of them.” Computer teacher and track/cross country coach Mr. Cozort said, “I don’t like all the superfluous content like mafia wars, polls, causes etc. I feel it takes away from the nature of a social environment rather than enhancing it.” Despite this, Mr. Cozort uses the site for somewhat different reasons. He said, “Social technologies are the tools that students use to communicate, and I feel as educators we have a professional obligation to learn to communicate with students in whatever language they are speaking.” So, instead of using Facebook for other purposes, he uses it as a way of communication that all students use. Unlike the other teachers, he also uses Twitter and Linkedin.
People of all ages are joining Facebook quickly, for example, Mrs. Livingston’s mother created one this summer. Some teachers are using Facebook to answer any questions their own peers may have. Mrs. Livingston described Facebook as, “a great source of information for me as a new mom as I am able to post questions to all my friends who are moms out there and get responses back.”
Others, like Mrs. Cozort, who is both a social butterfly and a coach, use Facebook for talking with friends and contacting those involved with swim teams. She enjoys constantly keeping up on what everyone is doing through her iPhone and networking with other coaches. She says that Facebook is a great and easy way to congratulate former students on the new house, or the new baby.
Mrs. Raposa said, “When I was in high school, the internet as we know it didn’t exist.” She, as well as our other teachers, describes the site as a fun experience. They appreciate being able to get in contact with friends from their past that ended up going to different schools or moving away.
Since the website appeals to various different interests, our teachers also differ in how often they visit. Mrs. Cozort said, “I’m on FB all the time- mostly on my iPhone though.” Mr. Cozort, in contrast, uses the site once every couple of weeks. When asked about how much she uses Facebook, Mrs. Livingston said “my husband would say I’m on Facebook too much, but that’s just because he wants to check his!”
With a growing population of new users, Facebook is no longer just available to current high school and college students. Parents of students have been joining recently, sparking a large increase in Facebook members. To Pres teachers, Facebook is obviously a great way to reconnect with old classmates or to just keep in touch with family members in or out-of-state. Facebook has allowed people of all ages like our own Pres teachers to update their contacts with what’s going on their life. Talking with new friends or catching up on the latest news with old friends and family is also available courtesy of Facebook.
Summer Lovin’
Formerly known to Presentation as Ms. Harris, Mrs. Monica Stampfl was married this summer on July 18, 2009 at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens. The entire wedding was a personal, intimate gathering, and the location itself was sentimental to Mrs. Stampfl and her husband, Kevin Stampfl. The Botanical Gardens are very special to the couple, for it was the first place where Mr. Stampfl thought of proposing, as Mrs. Stampfl later learned. The area also seemed to suit the couple perfectly in achieving a ceremony that Mrs. Stampfl continually described as “reflective of us.” Such a ceremony included a smaller, more “intimate gathering of our friends,” a natural setting near the coast, and bright colors including wine, burnt orange and pale yellow. The Stampfls personalized their wedding even further, especially by writing their own vows. Mrs. Stampfl described writing the vows as a unique experience and a way to make the vows mean more to her and her husband as well as to ensure that they “came from the heart.” In addition, the Stampfls made the decision to have a friend officiate the ceremony, making the experience even more personal.
While Mrs. Stampfl deems her wedding flawless, she says it was not what she initially expected. “When I first started planning my wedding, I wanted everything to be very simple, very, very simple, including my dress,” she recalls. “But the further I got into my wedding the more extravagant it became.” This was true of many aspects of her wedding, but especially her beautifully detailed dress, complete with a sweetheart neckline, intricate beading, and an A-line bottom accompanied by an eight-foot-long train. While there may have been more detail and planning included in her wedding than she expected, Mrs. Stampfl says she was overjoyed by her wedding. “I think my day was perfect. I think every little girl always dreams of the perfect, princess-in-the-fairy-tale wedding.”
On July 18, 2009, Mrs. Stampfl was not the only teacher to go through a life-changing event, for Mr. Garbo was also married on this summer Saturday.
While he may not have a different name or appear strikingly different to Presentation students with the exception of a new ring on his finger, it is doubtless that Mr. Garbo’s wedding this summer represented a major change in his life. Although his wedding ceremony was much different than Mrs. Stampfl’s, Mr. Garbo seems to have had just as much of a unique experience, one observed through a man’s perspective.
Taking place at the Church of the Nativity in Menlo Park, Mr. David Martin Garbo and his wife, Jennifer Ellen Jensen, were married in a congregation of around ninety people. Mr. Garbo described an experience different than Mrs. Stampfl’s, one in which he and his wife chose traditional vows and a Catholic Church ceremony, influenced partially by the guidance of Mr. Garbo’s mother-in-law. Mr. Garbo was also able to provide a unique perspective as the groom of the wedding and by observing the preparations more than partaking in them. “I just see women coming together and appreciating the process . . . I may not understand how much goes into it, but I definitely respect (my wife’s) wishes and how important it was for her,” said Mr. Garbo.
While Mr. Garbo may have experienced marriage in a different way than Mrs. Stampfl, the one salient feature that seemed to be at the heart of both the weddings was the way the two couples were able to gather their close friends and family together. Mr. Garbo, although his wedding was not the destination wedding he originally anticipated, focused on the benefit of a local wedding, saying, “A lot of friends and family were able to attend because of its location.” Friends and family truly were at the core of his wedding, too.
Although Mr. Garbo and Mrs. Stampfl experienced quite different marriage ceremonies, they share a similar happiness regarding their new status as married people.
New Faces On Campus
There are quite a few new faces at Presentation this year, but not all of them belong to freshmen. Pres has added four new staff members this year as well as a returning substitute. From science to government to French, this eclectic group of new teachers is ready to take on the trials, tribulations and general insanity that come with being a teacher here at Pres.
Mrs. Judnick is the new English teacher here on campus, teaching freshmen English as well as Individual in Society, an upper division elective. In the past, she has taught a composition class and was an assistant for a Vietnamese film and literature class at San Jose State. When asked what she enjoys most about her subject, Mrs. Judnick says, “I could spend all day talking about books—I am a voracious reader. If you named a book in the American canon I’ve probably read at least a part of it.” This love of reading and literature classes contributed to her desire to come back and teach English at Pres, her alma mater.
Mr. Mumper has taken over the reins of AP Government and is a new debate coach on Pres’ Speech and Debate team. Though he had never taught a curriculum-based class before Pres (Mr. Mumper used to be an air-traffic controller at LaGaurdia Airport in New York) he has taught debate at Collegiate High School and Lynbrook. Mr. Mumper says his favorite aspect of AP Gov is that “it has application beyond the classroom. You can apply what you learn in class to the world around you—I think government is one of the few subjects with which you can do that.”
Like Mr. Mumper, Ms. Richardson had not taught any classes before she came to Pres. Ms. Richardson used to work with Upward Bound, a program which works with high-risk or low-income high school students and helps them to get through high school and hopefully into college. She now works with Community Involvement and Campus Ministry. Ms. Richardson says that she enjoys both aspects of her job because, “both combine areas that I care a lot about—faith, religion, spirituality, service, justice and the desire to make the world a better place. I love being here because I feel like I get to do all those things between my two jobs.”
Mrs. Lezotte, our news French teacher, has come back after 30 years of teaching French here at Pres and for Los Altos Adult Ed and San Jose Adult Ed. She enjoys teaching French, as she says she “gets a lot of satisfaction when students are able to communicate in French with others and feel a sense of accomplishment.” Mrs. Lezotte is very glad to be back at Pres, though you may not see her very often—she teaches only one period. But Mrs. Lezotte says that while away she, “missed the energy and community of Pres. My family has noticed that I’m excited to be back here, even if it is just every other day.”
Ms. Sahu is the new physics substitute—she is taking over until October for Mrs. Rosenthall, who is on maternity leave. Ms. Sahu has taught physics at Independence High School and at James Lick as well as geometry at Live Oak. Back in 2006, Ms. Sahu was the substitute for Mrs. Rosenthal’s previous maternity leave. Though she was offered a permanent teaching position at Pres, Ms. Sahu instead went back to finish her masters. When asked about how she felt on returning to Pres, Ms. Sahu said, “When Pres contacted me a second time to take over again for Mrs. Rosenthal, I was delighted. Because it was Pres I decided to come back—the school is wonderful! Otherwise my one-year old daughter Saanvi keeps me quite busy.”
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