A student at Lisgar Collegiate Institute has been elected to serve as one of two student trustees at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board this year, and she says her personal mission is to bring “equilibrium” back to high school.
Grade 12 student Jennifer Tran acts as a liaison between board officials and some 70,000 students in Ottawa schools, presenting concerns and ideas to help the city’s public trustees and education administrators see issues from a student perspective.
Tran says that this year many students – specifically those at Lisgar – are feeling more pressure than ever to succeed.
“We are so focused on school, extra-curricular activities, and never just relax,” says Tran. “We are teenagers, we don’t eat properly, and we don’t sleep. It’s an issue that we are spending our time on everything but socializing. We have to go home straight away and do homework every night.”
Tran says while the school’s guidance counsellors are “doing their best” to help students cope, the stress of school work, extra-curricular activities, post-secondary school applications, and part-time jobs is overwhelming for many of her peers.
“Plus, students are intimidated to approach guidance counsellors,” explains Tran. “I think it’s important for students to know they can go to someone, and they won’t be judged if they have to admit it will be too much. They need to realize they should talk about it, and should get extra help in school if they need it.”
Board trustee Jennifer Mackenzie, whose district includes Lisgar, says this news “doesn’t come as a surprise.”
She says Tran has not yet presented the workload concerns in her student reports given at each board meeting to the trustees, but if she does, a follow-up investigation could be in order.
“The work-life balance may be something we have to start bringing into discussion with students,” says Mackenzie, who adds that students should contact teachers, guidance counsellors or principals if they are experiencing similar concerns.
One of Tran’s peers at Lisgar, Cindy Ma, says she’s also feeling under pressure. She’s in the school play, which has rehearsals every other day for two hours, plus she’s a social events planner on the students council.
She is also training for special piano exams after school.
“It’s really demanding,” says Ma. “You feel like you need to do all these extra-curricular activities to get scholarships and get into university. There is stress to make sure you have enough money to even go to university.”
Ma says it has become generally accepted by her and her peers that this high level of stress is the norm.
Tran, who is also on Lisgar’s students council and the school’s cross-country team, says she is attempting to increase the awareness of her position as student trustee to the school board, so that students know their voices can be heard.
She earned the daunting yet prestigious, year-long position after being selected by Lisgar to run as the school’s candidate for the role.
Student representatives from schools across the board, who meet once a month, selected her to fill one of the two student trustee positions.
Tran is currently in the process of research and applying to universities, hoping to pursue a degree in the arts.
“We need to find an equilibrium and not push ourselves to the edge,” she says. “We have to stop and take advantage of high school and life in general, or we are going to miss it.”