Stress is a factor that plays a bigger part in people’s lives than they care to admit, and every day, students are affected by stress which shows up through their grades.

“I think around our age, it’s just stressful in general and then it[society] just makes things worse because all you’re caring about is your grades,” freshman Catherine Connolly said.

Grades control what you get to do later in life and that affects people’s mental state in different ways. Some choose to let stress drive them and get anxiety if they don’t have that perfect grade, while others don’t let it into their life at all and just choose not to care about their grades and school.

“If I don’t get the grade I wanted, it makes me upset and I don’t feel good about myself because I knew I could have done better,” Connolly said.

FHN Counselor Stephanie Johnson sees an increase of students coming into her office for help around the end of a quarter due to the fact that students are stressing about their grades and getting them up before they are final.

“There are students that have high grades and they set a lot of really high expectations on themselves,” Johnson said. “So, there is a lot of stress and sometimes some anxiety around setting those high expectations on themselves.”

Other student don’t find themselves really worried throughout the school year and tend to put other things first such as social things or athletic responsibilities. Not everyone belongs in college or wants to attend at the top school so they don’t have to push themselves as hard as others.

“I have accepted the fact that I have given up on school,” Sophomore Catherine Pundmann said.