Burnout peaks as school year nears an end

Students and teachers are feeling increasingly bogged down by a feeling of burnout common on campus, with large numbers struggling to stay motivated and balanced amidst considerable academic and extracurricular demands of the end of the school year. 

Students and educators both generally define burnout as the loss of energy and motivation after working diligently nonstop for an extended length of time. 

Talena Ladendorf (12) knows why those feelings of burnout occur.

“I’ve experienced burnout when I am getting closer to the end of my goal,” Ladendorf said. “Usually, I experience burnouts near the end of a school year or when there is just too much going on, and I commit to too many different activities.”

Sarah Sicat (11), a member of PALs, said there is a particular burnout specific to junior year that has impacted her life significantly this year. 

“It’s like having very little motivation to keep working and pushing yourself in school, sports [and other activities],” Sicat said. “It has been hard to balance my social life, and I’ve had to make a lot of sacrifices to study or just catch up on sleep, all while not having the motivation to continue working.”

Similarly, many seniors are experiencing those lasting feelings of exhaustion in their final week.

“I’d describe it as feeling like there’s no reason to try, and when you do, you feel no sense of motivation or urgency — you just feel the fatigue instead,” Natalie Wang (12) said.

Students are not the only ones echoing feelings of exhaustion; teachers experience burnout as well. 

Julie Gruber, a former high school teacher and current associate marriage and family therapist, said her own burnout was often affected by circumstances outside her control. 

“For me, my loss of motivation and exhaustion in teaching was due to the fact that I wasn’t able to educate in the way I wanted to in the schools I was teaching at,” Gruber said. “While working in areas of extremely low socioeconomic status, I saw a lot of things that incited sadness and grief in me. It made me so overwhelmed, I was exhausted.”

While becoming a therapist, Gruber took specific steps to avoid burnout.

“Even as I transitioned to a career I loved more, self-care was still a priority  in order to stay balanced and continue working without exhaustion,” Gruber said. “I try to maintain good exercise, meditation, healthy eating and good sleep to ensure that I’m at my best before caring for others.”

Gruber advises numerous clients on how to deal with burnout, saying that “it’s important to communicate with those around you about how you are feeling,” and that external pressures can “place unnecessary stress on our bodies.” 

Physical manifestations of burnout include insomnia, fatigue, changes in eating habits and headaches, among others, according to Dr. Lotte Dyrbye, a physician scientist at the Mayo Clinic, quoted in the New York Times.

For Alia Amor (12), reaching out to loved ones helps relieve the burden.

“The best way to prevent burnout from my experience is to reach out to those who know or care about you,” Amor said. “I always like talking to people that never fail to make me happy or excited.”

PALs message is, “No matter how difficult or challenging things may get, the most valuable thing to remember is that you are always valued and cherished in the environment around you.”