Some people just don’t want to be saved. Or should I say almost our whole high school?

As we enter 9th grade, school-related stress seems like an increasingly prevalent theme in our conversations. We can go on for hours ranting about the homework we have to do and the tests coming up. But behind all that hatred towards a class, a teacher, or an assignment, we’re hating ourselves for being unable to ignore the juicy gossip going on at the back of the room during access, or clicking on a random youtube video with an annoyingly catchy title.

The schedule change to have double blocks instead of 6 different periods each day was done to help us. The late assignments policy (INC) was created to help us. Having over 2 hours of access time a week is meant to help us. Yet somehow, we still feel like we’re drowning in the murky waters of INCs.

I used to get angry at the school for giving us so much work, but now, I usually just get angry at myself for spending the complete 25 minutes of access finishing tasks that are due that same day and then stumbling into class with my homework half-ass poorly done. While thinking up proposals for student council almost a year ago, I was excited that a designated meditation time during access would finally make those 25 minutes useful even for those who, like me, struggle to work at that time.

Access meditation has been available for students every Wednesday since October. Only about three students show up each week. I’m sure we all know of more than three high schoolers who would benefit from a quick mental break.

I’ve concluded that most students simply don’t want to be saved, regardless of the tailored efforts done to help them. Perhaps the modern trend of celebrating burn-out has reached ASFM. Hopefully, we’ll soon learn to use the tools our school has given us to climb out of the hole we’ve been digging.

Personally, I’m not sure if I’ll learn to work during access before I graduate, but at least I know on Wednesday’s I’ll be doing something productive: meditating, waiting for you to come too.