1. Although it is sometimes difficult to tell if the student beside you is in stress or not, it is undeniable that a lot of college students are under stress and there is always one or even more of them around us.

Take a friend of mine, John, as an example. John was a junior student majoring in mechanical engineering in CCNY. One day, during lunch he shared with me about how stressful he was, and he also said that he kept thinking about quitting college and get a job as soon as possible. I was shocked when he first told me about that. According to my understanding of John, he is a very hardworking and smart student, not only does he do excellent in school, he also works as a part-time and manage his own life very well. His biggest wish is that he wants to become an engineer in the future and make more money to support his family as he was brought up in a single-parent family and his mother overcome all the hardship to send John to college. I just cannot imagine what makes John this vulnerable. But it all revealed after he told me more. John’s mother got injured and was told by the doctor that she cannot work for one year until full recovery. So now a large part of the burden of the whole family, from daily maintenance to financial expenses, fall on the shoulder of John. Now, He had to work four days a week to make up for the loss of his mother’s salary which left him no time to study but exams are coming, and he felt helpless with handling work, school and family at the same time. After listening to his story, I was speechless. I did not know what to say as I know no words can help him out of this situation, and all I can do was listen and be there to show support.

Life is not always easy, and things could change so quickly that sometimes we could not even handle these changes. Having to deal with studies and other aspects of life at the same time, college students are easily stressed out and it is not easy for them to look for help. The stress level of college students is really an issue that worth attention as we do not know how many more students out there is a facing similar situation as John is and is waiting for people to help them.

 

2.   One of the solutions of stress would be providing more counseling services to students in need, so that students can recieve help when they feel pressured. Students tend to get overwhelmed with the intensity of their classes, especially when they work part-time or full-time. Such factors for working on the job include paying off college tuition fees, transportation fees, to support families, or  even pay off student loan debts. For a student, this can be very difficult to manage and so counseling can certainly help to lessen the stress.

Counseling is the assistance of an professional that looks at an individual’s social or psychological problems by collecting psychological data about that person. Such data may include collecting data about the history of that person or even having a personal interview to get to know more about the person. The goal of counseling is to help individuals that use the guidance of counselors to seek solutions for their problems or even help individuals identify their goals. Students can use this option to seek their problems that are stressing them out and control it in the future.

One study we analyzed from our literature review  explained the need for counseling: “the authors examined the role that emotional intelligence plays in moderating the relationship between academic stress and coping self‐efficacy among a sample of 125 Hispanic 1st‐year college students” (Joshua C. Watson and April A. Watson, (2016). The authors say college counselors can help to come up with coping strategies that help students identify the root of their problems or the stressors that affect them. One example the authors note that counselors need to work one with students is time management. They state time management “Help[s] students learn to map out time for class, homework, and study can potentially alleviate enhanced stress and anxiety when important project deadlines or examination dates near”. Adhering to this type of method of relieving stress can be productive and beneficial for students emotional well-being.

Source used from our paper: Joshua C. Watson and April A. Watson, (2016)  Coping Self‐Efficacy and Academic Stress Among Hispanic First‐Year College Students: Journal of College Counseling https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/doi/full/10.1002/jocc.12045

3.    A method in preventing high stress in students is  schools holding workshops and fairs for incoming students. These workshops will provide students with enough information to getting started in college, teaching students how to manage their time, and how to plan for future life in college. By establishing a foundation for incoming students, it can prevent students going off track which will lead to minimal stress.

Beginning college can be an intimidating moment for many students. It is a new environment, new faces, and new decisions to be made regarding their future. The first step for students entering college is acknowledging that the learning environment is not like high school anymore. It is a step into an independent lifestyle where getting to class, talking to the professor and doing various and multiple amounts of work is on the students shoulders. In addition it is up to the student to learn how to manage their time. Assignments given by professors will no longer be accepted late, and there will be a specific deadline for each assignment. The professor is not on top of the student to make sure the work gets completed, which is where the independence kicks in. On top of adapting to this regime, students have to decide what program/ major they want to set themselves up in. A majority of freshmen enter as undecided because who really knows what they want to do for the rest of their life at the age of 18?

By creating workshops in school for incoming students, it will provide the students information so their not walking around clueless. It will create a an outline for students who are not sure what steps to take when it comes to deciding what classes to take. Job/ internships fairs will provide students with opportunities that would really advance them when applying for graduate school. Having this at hand, will be a gateway into succeeding in school. When there is success, there will be less stress.

4.  Stress is something that all people go through, stress is not all bad. Stress is based on a survival strategy, that is why your pulse quickens, your muscles tense, your breath fastens and more. This is because as a population our number one goal is survival and your body will go through automatic changes to ensure this. Still do not be fooled, yes stress happens to everyone but it is still a problem if you do not know how to relax and relieve your stress it can lead to some mental health issues.

        Long term stress is especially bad for the health because it harms the way our brain functions. People with stress feel stressed in different ways for example it can be a headache, sadness etc. People with chronic stress are more prone to viral infections for examples such as the flu and the common cold. Then there is routine stress which is very detrimental to the body it is so harmful it can lead to depression, high blood pressure, diabetes etc. The amount of harmful causes that come from stress are the reason why we need coping methods to deal with stress to conserve our bodies and brains. If stress is affecting, you then you should talk with someone to find ways to cope with stress to reduce it and be healthier one coping strategy is exercise. One important thing to do while stressed is finding time to relax while relaxing reduces stress by not thinking about these stressful events and tasks but more importantly you are taking a must needed break.

        If stress is overwhelming, you then talk to health professionals just because you are experiencing stress does not mean you have to resolve it on your own. By contacting mental health professionals, you may find out things that you never knew about yourself. Contacting officials is very important as well because if there is any harmful issues that stress can cause it is important to catch these issues early to resolve them. Stress should not be something on your mind at all time if it is you will most likely suffer issues due to this just remember to talk to mental health professionals as soon as possible. If you are over stressed the sooner you talk to them the faster you can cope with your stress.