Psychology Students Create Projects on Battling Stress

Since Psychology is an elective course at Academy, there is not a mandatory “written” final, however, history teacher Dana Nazaretian has assigned her students to present a project about stress relief. Students at AHN are very familiar with the concept stress as they constantly battle a balance between extra curricular activities, school, and for some, work.

Senior Ciara Chappell shares “It’s clearly a relevant topic for our lives. No matter how old you are, you can always use new advice about coping with stress.”

In a study presented by psychology students at NYU, 48% of the subjects examined reported they suffered from a “great deal of stress” daily. According to the study, females experienced more stress than males, represented in a 60% to 40% ratio.

https://twitter.com/Ro_YaL_TY/status/798559426663895040

All in all, stress easily overtakes a person and psychologically impairs them. Students tend to suffer most from stress at the beginning and end of the school year, however, they suffer from it more mildly throughout the year.

Nazaertian chose to assign the project in order to “recognize the damage stress can cause to our physical and emotional well-being. Some stress is required for motivation, however, students place themselves under an immense amount of stress as they approach midterm exams, AP exams, as well as final exams.”

Each psychology class was instructed to choose their groups and then choose a platform to design their project. If they choose iMovie, students are to construct a five minute film consisting of methods to cope with stress as well as interviews, diagrams, and statistics. Those who choose the powerpoint option must develop a presentation consisting of at least fifteen slides composed of information about methods to cope with stress as well as diagrams, photos, and statistics. The overall goal of this assignment is to provide assistance to those who suffer from stress.

Juniors Gabi Jordan, Lindsay Perez, and Samantha Garateix are just one group creating a movie, because, as Perez states, “We thought it would be more fun than a boring powerpoint.”

Jordan hopes the projects helps her find methods to reduce stress, adding “Just because it’s scientifically proven, doesn’t mean it works for everyone.”

The assignment falls at a convenient time for students, especially with midterms right around the corner. As they try to balance daily school work, exam preparation, and extra curriculars, student’s stress levels are beginning to skyrocket.

With many students struggling to combat stress, it’s important to learn mechanisms that personally work. As stress is a common factor for high schoolers everywhere, Nazaertian is certainly doing her students a favor by giving them the opportunity to explore coping methods.