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OUR PROPOSAL
I think the most terrifying moment of my life had to be walking into college for the first time. Yes, I know that sounds dramatic, but it’s true. How many of us just feel completely unprepared when we step out of our high school years into college? Especially now with the world shutting down and everything getting flipped upside down. We have never felt more unprepared for anything. When people used to tell me that college is completely different from high school I don’t think I ever believed them. However, I think all of the college students can agree that it’s night and day. Not only after high school are you expected to excel in college but you’re supposed to have a job as well. A job that you somewhat enjoy and a job you are appreciated at. There is an intangible number of things that are expected of high schoolers.
The problem is that too many high school students go into college not having a clue to what they are doing. Too many High School students get jobs that they hate just because it pays well. “But here’s the sobering reality — less than half of students, only 45 percent, felt positively about their college and career readiness. (2016)” This is a huge problem because how many of us don’t do something because we feel unprepared? Being unprepared causes anxiety and anxiety causes people not to do things. High school students need to connect with other college students, they need to find ways to connect in general. Because of covid, though, this has become difficult for many people. We need to slowly get back into connecting people and connecting high school students with college students to help them feel more prepared.
- Research Questions
1. How many high school students have jobs?
2. What’s the percentage of high schoolers that don’t go to college right after graduating? 3. How many college students have jobs they don’t like?
4. Do most high schoolers feel unprepared when going to college?
5. How many high schoolers feel unconnected after COVID?
6. What are some activities that can help destress?
7. What are some activities college students/ high schoolers can do to help reconnect to other students?
8. Do college/ highschool students feel like they have an added pressure due to COVID? 9. How can mental health be promoted to the students?
10. Do students feel like they are financially unprepared for college?
11. How many high schoolers know what they want to do when they graduate/ grow up? 12. How many high schoolers feel alone when thinking about college? 13. What percent of college students were affected by COVID?
14. What are the biggest factors in colleges high school students should be aware of?
15. How many high school students have parents that went to college and obtained a degree? 16. Do students feel metally prepared for college?
17. How likely is it for students to suffer from depression or anxiety caused by stress? 18. Is there a negative connotation of college for high school seniors?
19. Do students feel pressure to have a plan for and after college?
20. How many college students feel confident in their decision to attend college?
We believe this topic is very important to bring into conversation because many high school students don’t understand the responsibilities college brings to the table. When in high school many students just wing it and wait until the last minute to write that 3 page Essay, while in college it is a whole other world. In college you have to plan accordingly to what fits you and your schedule best. You have to plan around school/classes, work, relationships, sports, hobbies, and even personal time such as a “mental health day”. In the late year of 2019 beginning of 2020 we were all bombarded with a nationwide outbreak. This outbreak made the whole entire country go into a stay at home order, which led to many many months of just being alone and binge watching all of the 26 Marvel movies. This outbreak was the first in years, becoming known as COVID-19. The year is now 2022 and we are still following COVID precautions such
as wearing a mask, staying 6 ft apart, attending online school, and even having to get tested weekly for some schools. During these difficult times many fell into a darkness that consumed them. High school students being the main targets of this darkness known as depression. “Between 20% – 30% of adolescents report symptoms of depression. While depression once was considered an “adult” affliction, the mean age of onset today is 15. Almost 9 percent of high school students have attempted suicide in the past year” (Davenee Foundation 2021). Many young adults don’t seek help when in these times of need, leading to worse behavior and thoughts. If we, college students, can come together and give a helping hand to high school students who may just need the extra boost in their step, we can help provide a happy and healthy mindset about their journey and options for their future.
Our specific audience are high school seniors and college freshmen. These two target audiences are going to be the ones that are mainly affected by the problems we identified. They are the ones that covid mainly took away from. From important academic and sports events and opportunities to social events like prom.
The deliverables we chose will help reach and hopefully persuade the audience. First we are going to create a website filled with resources and events to help our audience get back to socializing. Another deliverable is flyers that we will post around campus with events that we will hold for the students such as Cooking with a peer, or a painting event, to help our audience connect with other peers. These flyers will be scanned and posted on the website as well.
Our plan for research is to take initiative into our own hands and spread a message. We want high school students to know and understand they have resources outside of their environment. High school students struggle with many aspects and most of the time they don’t seek help or ask questions. We want our message to be loud and clear. Our message is that we, college students, are here to not only help, but to listen. We are here to listen to their wants and needs while also letting them know we have the answers. Many high school students don’t know what they want after they walk across that stage, but they aren’t alone. Every person has walked across a stage, a road, a bridge, or even a yard, questioning what is best for them. Adults, teenagers, kids, and even babies walk without knowing where they are going, and we are here to help. We want to give the message to highschoolers who need to hear it most, letting them know, we are here to guide.
We intend to close the gap between highschool and college by reassuring students with positive reinforcement, job opportunities, and plenty of tips from our own PNW students. Our plan is to address and find solutions to any stress or anxiety high school students may have so that they feel more prepared for their college experience. The Building Bridges project plans to host college events at the YMCA and inform them about job opportunities near them.
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Wilka, Jen. “Learning from Student Voice: Most High Schoolers Feel Unprepared for College and Careers.” The Center for Effective Philanthropy, 8 Sept. 2016, https://cep.org/learning-from-student-voice-most-high-schoolers-feel-unprepared-fo r-college-and-careers/.
This article helps explain the emotions and challenges that high schoolers face due to the lack of preparedness after their high school journey. College can be a scary and intimidating aspect, but if you have support and help along the way, you’ll be destined for greatness. This source is helpful to those who need a better understanding of how and why high school students struggle getting ready for college, and it better explains ways to help a high school student struggling.
2. Wahl , O.F. “Facts about Depression and Suicide.” Dave Nee Foundation, http://www.daveneefoundation.org/scholarship/facts-about-depression-and-suicid e/.
Depression and thoughts of self harm are a very serious matter. Those feeling alone and left out most likely don’t realize they have peers and others around them to help. Throughout difficult times such as school stress, family, friends, relationships, work, etc., give many reasons to make you feel disconnected. In this source it talks about statistics and facts providing warning signs if those around you are facing difficult times with difficult thoughts. There are many options to those who need help, so sometimes lending a helping hand goes a long way.
3. Kreitz, Mary. “The Impact of Covid-19 on High School Students.” The Impact of COVID-19 on High School Students – Child & Adolescent Behavioral Health, https://www.childandadolescent.org/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-high-school-studen ts/.
This article provides a great explanation of how school closing and stay at home orders made many, if not all, feel a loss of connection. COVID-19 is a huge reason why many students feel lonely and disconnected. Throughout these difficult times many lost friendships and relationships and some even lost jobs and their ways of living. This
article helps explain the horrible outcomes of the pandemic and the lives it has impacted for the worst. COVID-19 may have been a bump in the road to some, but for many it was a disaster waiting to happen.
4. Monroe, Jamison. “Adolescent Depression in Schools.” Newport Academy, Newport Academy, 19 May 2020,
https://www.newportacademy.com/resources/mental-health/adolescent-depressio n-in-schools.
Throughout this source it explains the depression rates amongst schools and its students. Many aspects factor into reasons why depressions rates go up and down. Technology, school, and social media are the biggest aspects following loneliness and disconnection. The world we live in is all technology and social media based, so why even to those face-to-face around you? Wrong. Technology and being hidden behind a screen is never the answer, and those who get connected and feel less lonely are the reason we still have daily interactions with the peers around us.
5. Davis, J. “Pros-and-Cons-of-Working-a-Job-in-High-School.” Walden University, Walden University, 25 Mar. 2021,
https://www.waldenu.edu/online-doctoral-programs/doctor-of-education/resource/ pros-and-cons-of-working-a-job-in-high-school.
This article explains the difficulty of holding a job while in high school. High school brings much stress among students, and having homework, projects, and a job is very hard to manage. This source provides information on how many advantages having a job may be while learning, but behind every pro there is always a con. Sometimes in school you may have a light load of work, but the next week you might have 3 projects, 2 research papers, and a math exam while having to work a 3-11. Working through all these important things is very tricky while working an eight hour shift. We all understand that having your own, hard earned money is definitely an advantage, but at the end of the day having to tackle school, relationships, work, and even a life may not be worth it. School is a very important aspect so sometimes putting school and it’s responsibilities first, helps realize school is more important than the stress of a paycheck.
6. Finn, Chester E., et al. “The Fog of ‘College Readiness.’” The Fog of "College Readiness", National Affairs, Dec. 2017,
https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/the-fog-of-college-readiness.
This article articulates how students and parents are completely misled and “set up for failure” by k-12 school systems. The author goes into details about why most highschool seniors feel as though they are not prepared for college. This
source will be extremely useful for our project seeing that we aim to aid students through this rough patch and attempt to close the gap.
7. “Mental Health.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 12 May 2021,
https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/mental-health/index.htm.
This source details why good mental health is important for adolescents and the many ways it can affect other aspects of their lives. It is a credible source provided by the CDC. This source is helpful for our group because it provides background information for the problem we are trying to solve.
8. Deegan, Patrick Cook. “Seven Ways to Help High Schoolers Find Purpose.” Greater Good, Greater Good Magazine, 11 Jan. 2016,
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/seven_ways_to_help_high_schoolers _find_purpose.
This source lists a few different ways schools can take the steps to further encourage their students to improve their notion of feeling pressured or bored with school in order to have a better outcome. This source would be useful to pinpoint what exactly could be affecting a student and how it could be avoided. Again our goal is to cater to a students needs and this will give us a better understanding of the students perspective.
9. Monroe, Jamison. “How to Recognize Loneliness in Teenagers.” Newport Academy, Newport Academy, 15 Nov. 2021,
https://www.newportacademy.com/resources/mental-health/loneliness-in-teenager s/.
This source details how the technology era has made teens feel lonely which could be critical to their mental health. The authors exclaimed that youth from ages 18-22 were experiencing extreme loneliness. Being that this is avoidable, our project will focus on trying to have teens feeling more connected in a post-covid reality.
10. Bethune, Sophie. “Teen Stress Rivals That of Adults.” Monitor on Psychology, American Psychological Association, Apr. 2014,
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/04/teen-stress.
This article confirms that teens experience higher levels of stress than most adults. This will be useful so that our group can make sure our project addresses this issue and tries our best to bring awareness to it. Being that these are the type of facts that are usually ignored this data will be important to include in our research.