Stress levels have been at an all-time high, especially due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone is trying to accomplish work for school, learn through Zoom classes, and cope with the basic pressures of life. At Camas High School, students and staff shared their different ways of coping with stress.

CHS physical education teacher Valerie Parbon said, “We’ve always had to deal with stress, but this stress is different, it feels different.” 

Parbon has many helpful tips in regards to stress management. For instance, she always encourages her students to make time to go outside for a part of the day. Not only does this help your body but it helps your mind as well. Anytime stress occurs it is always best to clear your head so you are prepared to tackle the problem.

Parbon said, “I have three main strategies that I utilize which would be exercise, baking, and prayer.”

Stress not only affects mental health, but it also affects emotional and physical health as well. If students and staff are able to acknowledge when they are stressed out, they can strategically prepare and prevent it from happening. 

An anonymous CHS Junior said, “I’d say it helps to take purposeful breaks from your work. Like every hour or to take a 10-minute break to go to the bathroom and get a snack and check your phone but then get back to work after. And putting your phone in the other room also helps a ton for some reason.” 

CHS has made an effort to make students and staff feel like they are not alone in this new form of education. Many students have utilized their ability to contact their teachers via student square, Zoom, or email for extra help. In addition, teachers have been honest and more detailed in their assignments. CHS and the community have acknowledged that this transition has been far from perfect and there are definitely some ups and downs. 

Parbon offered some wise words about life.

“Life is a roller coaster and there’s all sorts of things that we trip on, we fall down all the time but when we do we want to be able to get back up. It’s okay when you have stress in your life to navigate through it, we can’t run away from it but we can definitely find better ways to relieve our stress,” she said. 

Camasonian journalists Shaelynn Lavoie and Addison Wunderli contributed to this article.