Students discuss burnout

By AJ Houston (Reporter/Photographer) and Grace Janecko (Reporter/Photographer)

Student burnout occurs when you feel too overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet specific demands. A school day at Crete Monee High School is from 7:25-2:00, which can be stressful.

Student-athlete Terrance Sandidge demonstrates what happens when you get burned out. Photo by Kaleigh Simmons.

At some point, students might find themselves behind in school work and being busy with after-school activities and more. Some might suffer from ‘student burnout,’ an overwhelming feeling when they feel stuck or caught up with school work, extracurricular activities, and work.

“I’m vice president in student government, and I’m starting to train for track. It’s very tiring,” said freshman D’miya Salis. “No, I don’t wish I was less involved. I just wish the time schedule was different and there wasn’t as much to do. I feel burned out from all of this. The way I manage my time is by going to sleep and dealing with everything later.”

Some things that lead to burnout are loss of sleep, family demands, lots of schoolwork, inability to manage your time well, exhaustion, and long periods of school-related stress. As you start suffering from student burnout, you just feel overwhelmed, and you continue to try and work and get back on your feet, but you can’t with an empty tank.

“I like to remember one day or step at a time, even when I am behind. I can only do so much to move forward as long as I don’t stop going forward,” said senior Derrion Beard. “I try to be collective, responsible, and productive with all my time. The knowledge I know now would have been helpful for my mental three years ago.”

It’s very important to remember that mental and physical health should always come first when you feel overwhelmed with something. Learn to say no when asked to do something with friends, know when you’re behind, ask for help when you need it from anyone, and take one step at a time.

“The first thing I do when I get home is take a shower and instantly start playing music and doing homework. I usually like to make sure I don’t have a lot of homework come season time. I try to take advantage of free time like lunch or my 10th period,” said Senior Vontrez Banks.

Thus, student burnout causes difficulty in the education field. This can all lead to physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion. Noticing this should lead you to seek any type of support.

A report was done in 2022 where a reporter decided to survey a bunch of high schoolers. The percentage of students that reported having student burnout was around 71% of students.

“I experienced student burnout a long time ago, and it made life more difficult to juggle my relationships with friends, get the sleep needed, and get all my work done,” said Makiyah Western.

“I had student burnout a while ago, and all I did was just watch my favorite shows and lay in bed all day,” said Eli Gallegos.

Most students seem to have the same answer regarding what they think can solve student burnout entirely. They say that schools need to be more lenient with the work they give to students.

“The school needs to be more understanding with students and let them think about what they are working on,” said Mira Hardin.

“Accommodations need to be made for students who struggle because some students need some extra help with the material,” Gallegos said.

Even if some do not realize student burnout is a problem, most people agree that it is an obvious thing to see, whether someone is just acting differently or someone just looks more exhausted compared to how they usually are.

“Student burnout can be very visible through lack of work completion and lack of sleep,” Western said. Says

Since some people don’t know how to deal with student burnout or how to help someone else who has student burnout, some students have some tips that could help.

“When someone else has student burnout, it’s best to let them be alone for a while and just relax,” said Sam Mcgrath.

“Help them with their time management and let them get some sleep,” Western said.

People only recently started understanding that when students are working 24/7 on work from school, they begin to get exhausted and need a break like everybody else.

“A lot more mental health-related subjects are being recognized more recently. This is when the subjects in school are getting harder, so students will get burnt out more often,” said Western.