It’s no secret the past two years have been unique. Schools are presented with issues of health on almost all sides; the physical, the mental, and the emotional. The seniors had one normal year way back in 2018-2019, while the rest of the student body has had nothing but unprecedented experiences. 

Now that things are progressing back towards whatever ‘normal’ is going to look like, students are staggering back into the usual in-person learning styles, but perhaps there needs to be another look at the student’s mental health. 

Some classes embrace the community culture of the school while others may choose to focus on the individual, according to junior Collin Ingram. 

“I think that certain classes have a very intense community aspect of it,” Ingram said. “Specifically my AP Lang class. That is a class highly based on discussion and questions and asking other people or talking to other people so that class and that aspect of the community really does help.”

However, it isn’t just the individual classes. Freshman Brookelyn Lawless looked at the school as a whole and its impact on her mental health. 

“I think [school affects my mental health], mostly in a positive way,” Lawless said. “It’s nice to come in and be able to have a different environment to learn in. It can also be negative just because of all the people and the gossip.”

Some students’ mental health has been fluctuating up and down, senior Worner Clark had this to say for advice. 

“I always think of times when I’m upset, like: this class is only an hour long, or this moment that is really awkward, it’s only an hour long,” Clark said. “I’m going to get past it.”

Sophomore Logan Greene was one of the students who believed his mental health was impacted negatively by the pandemic. 

“I think [the pandemic] impacted [my mental health] in a little bit of a negative way just because of social health,” Greene said. “I just wasn’t able to communicate to as many people and I feel like that’s the thing that everybody needs.”

The pandemic was and would become one of the markers of this generation of students. Yet, despite it, students believe that the school’s overall mental health this year isn’t so deeply affected as one might think. 

“I feel like [the rating of the mental health of the school] is pretty high because we have some wonderful counselors,” Greene said. “I know that I’ve gone in and seen the counselors a couple of times and they’ve really helped.” 

Both Greene and Clark rated the school at a pretty good mental health level. Clark rated the school as a whole at a seven. 

“I think we’re doing okay,” Clark said. “Other schools might be much worse. I think we’re pulling through.”

In order to keep the mental health of the school up, Ingram suggested looking at the Sources of Strength wheel. 

“Start looking at what support systems you do have,” Ingram said. “You can look at parents, you can look at mentors, students, other classmates, other extracurriculars you might be doing, even spiritual guidance. I’ll kind of think about what you do have and what you don’t have and throw what you don’t have aside. Look at what you do have and what you can use.”