Suicidal tendencies, severe illnesses and all kinds of different injuries are just some of the many factors that keep students from participating in their daily classes at school. For students like sophomore Annabelle Northrup and senior Jeanna Richard, missing school for two weeks or more was an extremely demanding experience to recover from.

In Richard’s situation, her teachers were truly understanding when she was diagnosed with mononucleosis (mono) her sophomore year and was therefore absent for about seven weeks. According to Richard, however, the daily pressures of the school environment made it difficult for her to completely focus on recovering, since she knew that the gross amount of classwork was pilling up day by day.  

“When you’re sick you should honestly focus on making yourself better, but our society focuses so much on school and it really bothers me,” Richard said. “There’s so much pressure on doing well in school, going to college, getting good grades, getting a high GPA and it harmed me because I couldn’t focus on making myself better. All the stress of school was just making me more anxious and it was, in the end, making me even more sick.”

In eighth grade, Northrup missed ruffly two weeks of school due to suicidal tendencies. According to Northrup, her teachers made it painless for her to complete all of the missed work while absent. Northup also states that her teachers were immensely understanding and lenient when it came down to getting all of the work done outside of school, which was another helpful aspect in her transition back to school.

“My teachers were very sympathetic towards my situation and said that my work was either exempt or that I could take all the time I needed to complete it,” Northrup said. “They sent me my assignments through emails which I would print out and bring with me to the hospital each day.”

Once having returned to school, Richard states that her academic situation only worsened. According to Richard, there were many things that she had to focus on while only having a limited amount of time to complete it all. Although the majority of her teachers didn’t overwhelm her with the unfinished work, the entirety of the situation was an ongoing, and stressful mess, Richard stated.

“I had so much to do, and I only had six weeks of school left to finish it all,” Richard said. “I had to have at-home tutors that would come to my house and help me catch up. I had to focus on my present work too, so I had double the workload. ”

According to Tony Catsaros, the head athletic trainer at South, getting an injury or illness that prevents students from attending school can be stressful. However, Catsaros states there are different techniques students can use to aid themselves in the transition from their long absences back into the school environment in a less chaotic way.

“I’m a believer about kids, who are returning after they’ve been out a while, to meet with [their] teachers with a calendar and literally just lay it all out,” Catsaros said. “It gives a better visual to the student so that they do not feel overwhelmed and stressed when [they] have everything out in front of [them]. This is where I think working with counselors and teachers is so key