Are you a perfectionist? Someone who cries if you get a C, the type of person whose greatest fear is becoming some homeless guy on the street because you didn’t get straight A’s or a perfect SAT score?
What happened to enjoying life? What happened to going with the flow? What happened to stopping and smelling the roses? The Pitch decided to give you the big picture and focus on the past and present stress levels of three different students and help you conclude if all the stressing is worth it.
the flexible freshman
6:10 a.m.: -RING, RING, RING- Freshman Tyler Huyser jumps out of bed with plenty of energy. He’s ready for another stress- free day of school. He throws on a tee- shirt and jeans and makes his way to the kitchen for a breakfast of eggs, sausages and toast.
6:30 a.m: After his stomach is satisfied, Huyser leaves the house and happily makes his way to his bus stop.
2:40 p.m.: Huyser arrives at home and immediately changes into his pajamas. He has some homework, but nothing stressful. After getting comfy, he rushes into the kitchen to get a snack. He pours himself a glass of milk, grabs a handful of Oreos and sits at the breakfast table as he ponders what will happen next on Lost.
2:50 p.m.: Huyser goes to his room and climbs into bed. After piling two pillows on top of another to elevate his head, he turns on the TV to catch up watching his DVR recording.
6 p.m.: When his mom comes into his room and tells him dinner is ready, he somehow is able to find the energy to get himself out of bed.
6:30 p.m.: Dinner is over and it is time for Huyser to face his homework, in bed.
10 p.m.: Huyser finishes all his homework, puts it on his bed table, and doesn’t need to move an inch. He closes his eyes and in five minutes is dozing off to a well-earned and stress- free night of sleep.
When the time comes when everyone is talking about college, Huyser does plan to be more active. “In junior year, I plan to do more activities mostly because it’s better than going home and watching TV,” he said.
However, now Huyser’s goal is to enjoy life and not let the stress and pressure get to him. He goes with the flow, does what he wants and lets life take him wherever it goes. “I planned to join some clubs, but I was too lazy,” he said.
the juggling junior
6 a.m.: -RING, RING, RING- Junior Krithi Ramaswamy’s alarm goes off. -RING, RING- She hears it, but pretends to ignore it.
Ramaswamy lies in bed, praying that the alarm is wrong and that it’s a snow day. Yet the alarm continues to ring. -RING, RING- She pushes the snooze button and drifts off, desperate for 20 more minutes of sleep.
6:40 a.m.: -RING, RING- After numerous attempts at denial, she finally opens her eyes. With only seven minutes to get ready, Ramaswamy jumps out of bed, runs to the bathroom, throws on a jacket and eats waffles as she sprints to the bus stop.
6:50 a.m.: Entering the bus, her fatigue knocks her down. She stayed up till 5 a.m. the night before doing science homework. “I came to school feeling angry and sick,” she said. As a result, she decides to zone out in first period. She closes her eyes as she just keeps telling herself “I just need to cope. I just need to get through this day, this week, this year.” For the rest day, Ramaswamy drags herself from period to period as she dreams of having a nice long sleep when she comes home. “At least I don’t have internship or Sunday school today, or dance practice,” she said.
For Ramaswamy, school is like a cycle, like a positive feedback loop. One night she doesn’t get sleep, which causes her to have trouble concentrating the next day and causes her to get sleep during the day which causes her to start her homework late, which in turn causes her not to get enough sleep, again.
the analytical alum (on her junior year)
6 a.m.: -RING, RING, RING- Elizabeth Miller, an ‘07 alum and currently a sophomore at Washington University in St. Louis, jumps out of bed at the sound of her screeching alarm clock. Immediately, she runs to the kitchen and chugs the first caffeine drink in sight.
6:10 a.m.: Miller dresses up, brushes her hair and teeth, while simultaneously making breakfast to eat in the car, “the eating of which will be an activity sandwiched between the mascara and lip gloss applications during red lights,” she said.
2:10 p.m.: -RING, RING- School is finally over for exhausted Miller. Entering her car, she “scarfs down” every calorie-heavy food in sight, trying to gain the energy that is absent due to her deficient night of sleep as well as that expended on a painful seventh period math exam. Without time to thoroughly digest the snacks, she shuttles off to her internship at NIH.
6-7:30 p.m.: When Miller finally gets home, she drags herself upstairs, into bed and pulls the blankets over her head. She tries to forget about the whole day. She closes her eyes and drifts off to a happier place… that lasts until her mom tells her for the fourth time that her dinner has gotten cold.
9:45-2 a.m.: By the time the sun goes down and the quietness of the night is felt, she finishes all her homework. “Everything else, like the readings, I will try to do before school, between classes and during lunch,” she said. She goes over to her alarm clock and sets it 30 minutes earlier than usual so that she can study for the history test she has first period.
2-2:30 a.m.: She finally gets ready for bed and tries to get her mind off all the stress and pressure. “I grab the latest US Weekly magazine to get my mind off the dates of the Song dynasty and the sequence of mitosis I am trying to memorize. Somehow the status of Nicole Richie’s latest relationship lulls me off to an anxiety-free night of sleep,” she said.
Looking back 4 years, Miller concludes that the perfectionist nature of so many WJ students isn’t necessary. “Failing a few quizzes or slacking on my readings really wouldn’t have made a difference,” she said. “I’m sure some of the geniuses at my college didn’t work at all during high school.”
