Most students at Shepherd University have one thing in common, and that is stress.
It can be because of juggling too many classes, or because there is one class that is taking all of the student’s time.
“What causes me stress is trying to do too many things at once, which I always do and I get overwhelmed,” junior Spenser VanHoose said.
Certain majors also have other factors to worry about. As part of their education at Shepherd, nursing majors must attend clinical.
“We have to attend clinical throughout the semester and that takes a majority of the day that we could spend doing work for other classes,” senior Mickayla Weese said. “It’s already difficult enough to balance everything out and that just adds to it.”
Certain students just accept the fact that stress is going to be a part of their curriculum. Students know that they signed up for when they applied to Shepherd.
“I’m not that stressed out, I just accept it. It’s like an avalanche and I’m standing at the bottom of it, it’s just going to happen anyway,” sophomore Claire Affinito said.
For some other students the stress helps. It creates a sense of urgency and helps them work harder and finish their assignments.
“If I don’t have three assignments coming at me at once, odds are I may slack off, but if I have so much going on that I need to schedule my time to do a certain thing, it is going to get done,” senior Kiara Goeins said. “If I’m up against the wall, that’s when I am at my best.”
While Goeins does think the stress helps her with her classes, she does believe the classes are already time consuming and at times can be unfair to the many students have other responsibilities after school whether it is a job, a club, or a sport.
“Shepherd is really taking me to my limits though,” Goeins said. “I work a job, take my classes, study, and work at my internship. There isn’t enough time in the day.”
“Being as it’s my final semester I’ve had a great deal of stress. I have my capstone, my job, my classes, and my executive position in my fraternity,” senior Julie Hawkins said. “Needless to say I quickly fell behind on a lot of work. I had to cut back my hours at work, strictly schedule myself and then I finally got my rhythm back.”
Shepherd University does offer counseling support services if a student ever needs help, and many events like Late Night in the Zone are made to create a much more relaxed environment.
“I’m a firm believer that everyone needs to find an outlet to release their stress,” senior Edward Smith said.
Many programs at Shepherd are attempting to help manage a student’s stress. Shepherd University encourages their students to use the facilities at their disposal to ensure that their time here at Shepherd is at fulfilling as possible.
“Stress is inevitable, but it all depends on how you handle it,” senior Alex Jones said.