You feel the dread forming in the pit of your stomach, your head starts hurting and you wonder how you are ever going to get better. But you aren’t sick, you are stressed about the mountain of schoolwork you have to do after missing a few days. Being absent puts a substantial amount of stress on students at Tahoma High School.

A survey conducted by the American Psychological Association found “nearly half of all teens — 45 percent — said they were stressed by school pressures.” and those school pressures are “In most cases… from academics, not social issues or bullying.”

Even with the new addition of Power Hour, many students don’t feel like they can make up class time properly. Junior Joanna Liggett said, “there’s nothing you can do to make up a whole class period of instruction even if you come in during Power Hour.” A new system to make up work must be put in place so students can feel like they can regain class time they missed.

According to U.S News, AP Students roughly make up 46% of the student body here at Tahoma and most find themselves under piles of strenuous homework throughout a normal school week. If one were to fall behind in a college-level course, it would become very difficult to catch up with their peers who did not miss school.

With a new eight-period schedule, students have two more classes they need to manage. An AP Student, Jeremiah Briere, said the new schedule is “too much. For AP kids it’s encouraged to make all 8 classes hard to stay competitive, and it’s just too much.” When a student misses school there is not a lot of leeway for them to get caught up.

A general pediatrician from Mount Sinai, Dr. Blair Hammond said, “Missing school becomes a big problem, because kids fall further and further behind, which creates more stress.” A report done at the Tahoma attendance office found there are roughly 520 absences, about 20% of the student body, on an average week. In a survey of 58 Tahoma students, 84% of students have come to school to avoid falling behind even when they should not have. (ex. Being sick, family emergencies, etc)

The Student Handbook at Tahoma states “Students have one (1) day to make up work for each day of excused absence.” Before on a six-period schedule, this rule might have been more applicable, however now there needs to be a change.

The students at Tahoma must be given enough time to make up their work because they have to stay on top of the homework they continue to get. Students should be given a week to get caught up on the homework the teachers have assigned that way they can also get caught up learning the new class material as well.

Field trips, though sponsored by the school, cause students to fall behind as well.While having a hands-on experience for some students is a great opportunity to further their learning, for others it has proved to be stressful. In the same survey of 58 Tahoma students, 74% of them said they were stressed about going on a field trip because of missing valuable class time. Going on field trips makes students fall behind in their other classes because in most cases field trips are an all-day affair.

When asked about if going on frequent field trips has created some stress, junior Mina Klein answered with “Definitely, you’d think two days [a blue and gold day] is a lot of time, but it doesn’t help when you’re involved in after-school activities.” Klein enjoys the experience of a field trip, but she does get stressed when “those extra classes’” homework starts to add up.

Field trips should always be an optional event for students who feel like they cannot afford to miss school, and the trips should be encouraged to stay within the class period and not take up all day. However, if there are all-day field trips, since it classifies as being an excused absence, students should be given a full week (seven days) to make up their classwork.

School stress is something that surrounds students at Tahoma every day. There are many opportunities for the administration to lessen the pressures that being absent puts on the students. By giving them more time to get caught up after being absent and not pressuring them into going on field trips, the attitude towards academics at Tahoma would be greatly improved.