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Months of covid restrictions, remote learning, less time with friends, and the canceling of sports and other activities have hit many students like a rock wall. That wall has most heavily struck students’ mentally, with seventy-seven percent of NS students in a recent survey responding that the pandemic has influenced their mental health in some way.
“[It felt like] I fell in a hole and broke my ankle,” said Haven Caldwell, sophomore.
Many students have felt this way as their entire lives have been changing, including one of the most crucial parts of a teen’s world: their social life.
“[The pandemic] has just really stressed me out and sometimes you can’t go see people, but I need to see people, otherwise I will go crazy,” Caldwell said.
Several students didn’t even realize how much social interaction with friends and peers played a role in their lives until covid.
“I am a social person, which I didn’t know until the quarantine started,” senior Ben Anderson, said, “I need to be able to talk to people. I need to be able to be with friends, and covid stopped that and has made it difficult.”
Numerous other aspects of the pandemic aside from social restrictions have shaken the mental health of students. One in three Americans know someone who has died or been hospitalized due to covid. Experiencing someone passing away or becoming severely ill causes anxiety for students.
“I don’t go places often because I’m scared of bringing germs home to my mother,” said Keerah Cook, junior. “My grandma died and my great-grandpa died [of covid].”
Six percent of students who took the survey stated that the potential of giving the virus to someone significantly impacts their mental health.
“There became this additional pressure that if you go get sick, you could make [a loved one] sick,” said Heather Allred, NS counselor. “There is this new worry of ‘am I going to get someone that I care about sick? Am I going to kill them?’”
Worries like these have had a huge impact on mental health, in addition to the prominence of masks and controversy surrounding them.
“Sometimes, if you aren’t wearing a mask, people will judge you for that. Then other times, people will judge you for wearing a mask,” said Austin Hadley, NS teacher and coach, “The mental side of it for me is how to not be judged by the company I’m in for my decision to wear a mask or not wear a mask.’’
In addition to masks, other policies have been put into play so students can get back out on the court or the stage. Although they have proved helpful in limiting the virus’s spread, they have added stress.
“[Covid policies for extracurricular activities] are frustrating and an added level of stress because you don’t want to be the one to test positive and wipe out your whole team for two weeks,” Hadley said. “It puts kids in a tough spot where their team is depending on them.”
While the restrictions have added stress, most students are learning to cope with it as they get to come back to activities that they love.
“The play is happening, and I see all of those guys who were kinda bummed out last year and now they are excited,” Allred said. “Even though they have to test and do that kind of stuff, they are just happy to be back doing kind of normal things.”
Not only are students enduring covid related struggles, but some are also finding the pandemic to be a unique opportunity for a mental health outlet.
“Honestly, I think before the pandemic, [my mental health] was worse because I was bottling my emotions,” Anderson said, “but now that the pandemic is here, I can act out just a little bit and blame it on covid wreaking havoc on my crazy teenage hormones.”
All in all, the pandemic has stirred positive and negative impacts on student mental health as it has sprung constant change, fear, restrictions on their lives at home and at school.
