Achieving a Stress-Free School Year

High school through the eyes of a teenager can be seen as one of the hardest parts of life. With the amount of homework, sports, and extracurricular activities that may pile up, students may start to feel overworked and overwhelmed. However, high school should be a place where you should feel comfortable while at the same time be productive.

Diana Zuniga is the on-sight psychologist at San Dimas High School, her job is to talk to students that are dealing with personal issues. In the beginning, Zuniga wanted to be a teacher but decided to become a therapist. Zuniga wanted to help kids but saw that most of them were dealing with problems that teachers could not touch on. Zuniga mentioned, “Some students aren’t learning because they have issues going on, so I wanted to help them further.” 

Zuniga explained how mental health is vitally important. When students start to feel like their mental health is declining they begin to neglect it, in this case, it can start to take a toll on them. This may reveal itself through feeling drained, not being able to focus, and sometimes even mood swings. Zuniga also mentioned some tips for students so as not to overwork themselves, one of which was that this school year they should learn how to say “no”, even if they feel that they will be missing out on something. Zuniga continued, “Make sure you have balance, you want to have a little bit of fun, you want to take care of your responsibilities, but it’s important to know which things to prioritize.”