Fighting student stress

MT. PLEASANT - Mt. Pleasant Community High School will be hosting a Fun Day for students on Friday. Classes will not be meeting in a traditional fashion, instead, students will have time to participate in fun activities, catch up on homework, and to work on college preparation.

The school will host fun activities such as a dodgeball tournament, a cornhole tournament, movie viewings, monopoly competitions, a walk, video games, yoga, how to train a dog and more.

There also will be time to work on homework assignments or to work on college preparation. This will include help with student aid applications, scholarship applications, college applications and college visits. All of these activities focus on giving students some time away from the stress and worry of school and instead relax a little.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, students have seen an increase in stress due to restrictions, family issues and anxiety about current events. Many teachers and staff, including high school principal Todd Liechty, agree.

Organized by Liechty, the day aims at allowing students to relax and distress and not worry about school work for a day.

'Sometimes when you get so stressed, that is the only thing you focus on. This day tries to help students take a day away from school work to get those things done,” Liechty said.

Liechty emphasized that it is a day where students don't have to worry about new homework since there will be no regular lessons that day.

'We just want students to take a day to not focus on moving forward in course work and instead focus on having some fun and to stop stressing,” Liechty said.