Students face new demands for time

The moment Kira Sekhar, senior, entered the U-High building on Sept. 8, she immediately faced an overwhelming mass of individuals, most of whom she didn’t know, which was a sight foreign to her during her distance learning experience last school year. 

Undergoing the drastic change from interacting with a few close friends frequently during distance learning to seeing both familiar and unfamiliar faces daily during in-person learning has led to students feeling uncomfortable and pressured socially. 

During distance learning, Kira typically interacted with her close friends and rarely talked to other individuals in her class outside of breakout rooms. Therefore, with the return to in-person learning, Kira finds that socializing in large groups has been awkward. 

“I have definitely had some social anxiety in the past few weeks, but I do think I am adjusting to it as it gets more normal to be back,” Kira said. “The first two weeks were definitely a little anxiety-provoking, especially in the cafeteria since it’s so crowded there.”

The lack of social events in previous years has also imposed pressure on students to feel forced to engage in communal activities, something sophomore Cameron Grant has experienced. 

“If there’s an opportunity to go out or go to a sporting event, let’s say, I feel pressured to say yes, even if I don’t really want to go,” Cameron said. “I feel like I have to make an excuse if I don’t want to agree to plans. So most times, I just agree to go.”

Similarly, ninth grader Allison Li wasn’t too engaged socially during distance learning during most of 2020-21. With the return of a typical school schedule and activities, Allison felt pressure to compensate for missed opportunities in previous years, such as joining clubs and sports teams. Due to the overwhelming amount of activities she enrolled in during the past month, she had to drop some.

“I joined the tennis team so I could interact with more upperclassmen,” Allison said. “I also thought that if I joined more clubs, I could make more friends, so I joined a lot of clubs that I simply could not handle and had to end up quitting a lot of them.”

Kira also found it difficult to make the same level of commitment to clubs as she did in previous years. 

“I do feel internal pressure from my extracurriculars to be more involved, but at the same time, it’s stressful and overwhelming to go back to how busy that used to be,” Kira said. “The old schedule, all my classes every day, homework, college applications and still feeling like I should be giving so much time to my extracurriculars, which obviously I care a lot about, is overwhelming.”

The social pressure with the return to full school classes and activities has been difficult for senior Erik Erling to manage. Since he doesn’t want to miss out on opportunities during his final year of high school, he finds he has to participate in more social events. 

“For me, it’s less about not having had it for a while and more about it being my final year,” Erik said. “Up until this year, I had never been to club shopping, but this year, I really felt like I should join some clubs.”

Erik noted that his distance learning experience has allowed them to handle social stress better. 

“During lockdown, I learned that I really like free time alone, so if I am feeling overwhelmed, I can go home and do nothing, or go to Gordon Parks and find a quiet corner to sit on my phone,” Erik said.

While Kira finds it difficult to balance everything she is involved in, she continuously reminds herself that she shouldn’t put too much pressure on herself when it comes to engaging socially. 

“I think I just have to remind myself that school is my priority right now, and that has to be my priority,” Kira said. “If that means that I can’t be as dedicated to certain activities right now, then that’s OK, and I shouldn’t beat myself up about that because we are still in a pandemic and still adjusting to this new ‘normal.’”