Stress has become a normal part of student life at The Columbus School. Many students try to balance exams, events, extracurricular activities, and responsibilities outside of school all at the same time. I decided to look into it. After speaking with several seniors and Camilo Hoyos, an ISC teacher, it is clear that this pressure is not occasional it affects students every day. Because of this, our school should consider a designated mental health day each semester to give students time to rest and reset.
Emma Restrepo, a senior, described how quickly responsibilities build up. “So I’m usually a very stressed person overall, but when combining exams and events with my work, it normally skyrockets, and I have to get into a headspace where I’m completely focused on only one thing at a time.”
This shows that Restrepo feels forced to separate responsibilities instead of managing them together. Students at TCS feel forced to divide their life into separate parts. “So in school, I can only think about school, and when I leave school or I have extra periods, then I can start to think about my job.”
This constant pressure does not just feel uncomfortable; it changes behavior and performance. Restrepo explained, “In terms of my behavior, I usually get stressed and try to avoid everything. So I don’t actually do the work that I’m supposed to do for school or for my work.” When stress leads to avoidance, learning and productivity suffer.
Raquel Isaza, another senior and Head of COSMUN Press, explained that much of her stress comes from responsibilities people do not always see. “It’s doing a lot of things that are behind the scenes that people don’t actually see that stress me and put pressure on me, while also doing the same academic things and homework that is expected for everyone.” When activities and academics overlap, she is forced to choose. “So, when I have to choose, I’ll always put the model (COSMUN) first because I’m the head of it… I have to choose between one and the other, and there’s no way or no time I can figure out to do both of them.”
The students believe the school could offer more support. Raquel shared, “I feel that the school could help us with due dates, with stress levels, understanding what we’re doing outside of school and extracurriculars… if the school helps us with these extracurriculars, with due dates and everything, I can do better at both of my jobs.”
Teachers are noticing the same problem. Camilo Hoyos shared, “I perceive in my students a high level of stress because the pandemic affected systemically the emotional and learning processes of the students.” He also said, “Sometimes I feel that my students have a lot of work to do in a day, and they feel that the hours in the day are not enough.” In class, the stress becomes visible: “And sometimes in my class they ask me, ‘Can I do another job?’”
Because of this, Camilo supports a change. “So I think that it’s good if we have one day for mental health for the students, if we consider the stress they have and how many hours they study at home, and it’s not enough to completely or successfully manage everything.”
Students, especially seniors, agree. Emma even said, “I think a mental health day would be amazing for every student… it would be amazing for everyone to just be able to take that time off and really focus on themselves.”
Together, students’ and teachers’ voices show that stress is affecting both learning and well-being. When students feel overwhelmed, they cannot fully focus, complete their work, or take care of themselves. A mental health day would not be a break from responsibility — it would be a way to support students so they can return more focused and ready to learn. Listening to the people who experience this pressure every day makes one thing clear: our school should seriously consider it.