Holiday depression is nothing new to high schoolers. Holiday cheer is mentioned in almost every movie,book, or song, but for many high schoolers, the holidays are the furthest thing from it. With such a diverse school population comes a wide variety of causes and concerns regarding the holiday blues.

“There’s just a lot of pressure around trying to juggle sports, academics, social and family life,” freshman Carter Aldmon said. “So much for ‘The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year’”.

Finals have proven to hit especially hard on the students this year , with some handling it better than others. It appears the anxiousness of holiday anticipation mixed with the agonizing hours of finals prep, isn’t a very good mix. Even teachers have recognized the impact it’s held on their students so far.

“It breaks my heart to see these kids falling apart during this time,” Mrs.Lori Greer said. “I wish there could be an alternative to finals that doesn’t involve piles of Work which are covering large amounts of curriculum with such minimal time.” 

The annual standardized testing known, loved, and more likely dreaded by most,if not all students and even faculty, can add to the usual lineup of holiday stressors-including financial strain.

“My parents are the opposite of the fighting type until Christmas time rolls around,”freshman Mia Rodriguez said.”Once the holidays come up, money is the last thing you want to bring up around them, unless you have noise cancelling headphones in hand.” 

Parents fighting can already be really tough on growing minds as it is. Sadly, it would appear that some parents have a tendency of doing it a little more than usual around the holiday season. This can be especially difficult on the children considering they already have a lot on their plate, and family support always helps. And with fighting parents always comes the pending fear of the “D-word”.

“This is the first Christmas we’ll be having since my parents’ divorce,”freshman Charis Yiow said.”It feels so strange knowing I’ll be waking up on Christmas Day without my dad.”

Typically around 40-50% of marriages in the U.S. end in divorce, so it goes without saying that a lot of the student body is likely to be struggling with the havoc of a split household during the holidays. Even to the experienced children of divorcees, it can always seem at these times as if  you’re missing out on that experience of waking up with both parents present… with presents.

“The holidays can get you down sometimes, but I have the perfect remedy,”Macey Scott, freshman, said. “Consume nothing but cookies and hot chocolate and your problems will melt away just like the marshmallows in your mug!”