Anxiety, Exhibition Day, and More at the Forum

The main topic of interest in this month’s Forum meeting was anxiety and how it affects students here at SDA.

A few months ago, the counseling office posted a student survey asking who at SDA is affected by anxiety and what the cause of that anxiety is. Student counselor Ann Nebolon brought in the results of that questionnaire at the meeting.

The results of the senior exit survey were also discussed. “Out of the one hundred percent our seniors participated in this survey,” Nebulon said, “it has jumped in the last five years from twenty-seven percent to forty-point-eight percent of our seniors who say they experience anxiety.”

The rising trend of students experiencing anxiety has caused concern with the counseling department, especially since most of the students  have reported that they deal with it every day. and that school is the number one cause of anxiety.

The survey revealed the second leading cause for anxiety among students hads to do with the pressure to maintain grades, and the third was generally being overwhelmed by everything that they are responsible for on a daily basis.

“When I read that, I thought that was a problem,” Nebolon said. “Are we sending the wrong messages at our school? Is there something we can say that encourages kids to be themselves rather than ‘do more, do more, do more, or you won’t have a great life?’”

One student speculated that the rise in numbers in recent years may be due to students romanticizing the idea of having a mental illness and are perhaps saying they have anxiety to “seek attention.”

A few solutions to decrease anxiety were presented. Junior Ava Jakubowski suggested, “We could have a room totally dedicated to relaxing and quiet time, with pods that you can use to go to sleep for a little bit. I feel like if we had that kind of a thing here maybe during homeroom or lunch, it would be a good type of resource to have.”

“I think if we increased awareness on the resources that we do have on campus, that would be a really achievable solution to this problem,” junior Jula Herold said.

Another topic of interest during the Forum meeting was recycling, concerning where recycling goes and how to get people more involved in the process. Principal Adam Camacho said that he will be having a meeting with the overseers of the campus facilities and will be discussing better ways to go about the recycling process on campus.

The Forum closed with a discussion on this year’s Exhibition Day and how students can plan the event to make it even better than previous years, especially with involving more students in the event apart from selling products.

“It’s up to you guys to make it what you want it,” ASB advisor Rod Keillor said. “We have the applications for Exhibition Day that specifies where you want events to take place, and really it’s up to you all to make the day how you want it to be.”

The discussion about Exhibition Day is expected to be continued in future meetings as the event gets closer.

As always, it’s encouraged that more people get involved with SDA’s monthly Forums to get involved in the discussion on how to make SDA a better place.