To get into the best college, students today are expected to take advanced courses, play multiple varsity sports, play an instrument, do community service work, and maybe even have a job. All that work is supposed to be the key to a premier college education—but at what cost? According to a recent study of Daniel Hand High School (DHHS) students, the stress is starting to take its toll.

More than 1,000 students completed the bi-annual Search Institutes Developmental Assets and Behavior Survey in November 2015. Results began to roll in by January and members of the Board of Selectmen (BOS) and Board of Education (BOE) met on March 15 to discuss the results.

In the survey, students were asked to grade 15 different environmental stress factors on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most stressful. Insufficient time to sleep, difficult classes, large amounts of homework, too little time, and not enough free time or down time were revealed to be the top five factors, factors that can all be linked to education, according to MADE Coalition Coordinator Catherine Barden.

“What we are seeing and what we are hearing from students is that stress is a huge factor,” she said. “This year was the first year we ever asked questions about stress. We are actually the only school district that has ever asked student about stress.”

Students from the Data Focus group, which is comprised of students from Peer Advocates, LIFE, and Perspectives—all MADE and Madison Youth & Family Services programs, attended the joint BOS/BOE to discuss how they see stress in school.

Member Patrick Fahey, a junior and student-athlete at DHHS, said he was glad to see people start to talk about stress as a serious issue.

“We think it is very important to be talking about stress because we can talk all day in health class about how drugs and alcohol are bad and we have been hammering that into the school district for years, but the thing is, in most cases, stress is what is causing kids to turn to things like that,” he said.

Student representatives agreed that a lot of pressure came from an excess of work, but some students also said that parents have big influence on their stress levels. Max Veth, a junior and student-athlete at DHHS, said parents can have a tendency to push their students too far.

“You see parents pushing their kids into advanced courses and they don’t even know if their kids are going to be able to handle it,” he said. “A lot of this does come from the parents, whether it is directly or indirectly.”

Member Sophie Carbone, junior and student-athlete at DHHS, said the survey also revealed a significant spike in stress from sophomore to senior year.

“People are rushing to fill up their résumés,” she said.

BOS and BOE members expressed concern with the survey results and the student comments. BOE Chair Jen Fitzgerald said while the community works to support students, more needs to be done.

“I always look at it as a triangle,” she said. “You have the community, the schools, and the families and in the middle of the triangle is the student. We are all working together to keep you guys whole and I think sometimes we tend to fight against each other and the triangle falls apart. We need to get back to working together for your mental wellbeing.”

Students suggested programs to improve student time management and courses on handling stress could be beneficial. Selectman Bruce Wilson said they need to look at changing dialogue around stress in young people.

“We need to look changing the culture and making it so that people can say, ‘This is too much for me to handle now’ and have that be received in an open and caring way,” he said.

In addition to asking questions about stress, the survey covered substance abuse and depression and suicide rates in the school. According to the survey, an alarming 11 percent of students surveyed, approximately 116 kids, had attempted suicide one or more times.

Madison Youth & Family Services Board member Art Symonds said the rising depression rate in Madison is an issue that cannot be taken lightly.

“This is the great hidden issue for Madison that people are just not aware of enough,” he said. “It is a really serious issue that we really need to do something about because it is not going to get better if we just sit around.”

First Selectman Tom Banisch said this is an issue that needs to stay front and center.

“This should be a continuing dialogue,” he said.

To learn more about MADE or the survey results, visit www.madeinmadison.org.