By Zoe Guo, Class of ’27 — Events Editor

Feeling stressed about school or burnt out in general? Don’t worry, because you’re not alone.

The South Asian Student Union is hoping to help anyone feeling stuck. After April break, club members will be creating a forum or all students struggling with stress — particularly “overachievers.”

“I call them overachievers because their goals are not realistic. Because they’re running at a full sprint 24 hours a day, just living with anxiety and depression, and always feeling not good enough,” said Mr. Mahesh Balan, the club advisor.

Mr. Balan believes that overachievers are often overlooked when it comes to creating academic support. As someone who has seen countless students with ambitious goals, Mr. Balan believes that SHS students may be overworking themselves without even realizing it.

“Students I’ve been working with have literally had to go to crisis evaluations… [because they’re] feeling like failures. And you look at their grades, and I’m like… ‘You’ve got an A-’. And they say, ‘I know, how am I ever going to go to Harvard? I’m out of the race.’ They’re in tenth grade,” said Mr. Balan.

The goal of the club’s forum is to provide a community for stressed students to relax and to help students manage their emotions in healthy ways. Although it will be hosted by the South Asian Student Union, students of all backgrounds and ethnicities are encouraged to join.

Club members soon will send out Google questionnaire schoolwide to get feedback about academic pressure and mental health from students who can remain anonymous.  Survey results will be reported in a future Talon article, as well as information on how to access appropriate resources, Mr. Balan said.

After survey results are compiled, Mr. Balan would like to invite anyone who wants to participate in a live discussion about these issues — or maybe share their stories. 

“We need to have a discussion… [as well as] help people start looking in the right direction for answers and ask themselves ‘What am I doing?’” said Mr. Balan. “The more that we can meet and discuss this, then we can understand that ‘I’m not the only one’…We have to give a voice to the people who want to say, ‘I don’t want to take Chemistry,’ or ‘I don’t want to do that stuff. That stuff’s hard.’ It’s okay to say that.”

If you don’t feel comfortable going in person, Mr. Balan is happy to provide anonymous support via email at [email protected]. He says that the most important part is that struggling students can find a group to relate with, whether that’s in-person or not.

Although the club is just being created, Mr. Balan hopes that it will spread to other clubs other than the South Asian Student Union, and perhaps even expand online. For now, he says, his goal is to locate the community that needs help and focusing there first.

“The initial stage of talking about [academic pressures], and acknowledging that, yeah, it does happen here, is my goal. [Over time,] it could evolve into an online thing, like a chatroom or something,” said Mr. Balan.

For more information on this club and how to join, please visit Mr. Balan in the counseling office or email him at [email protected]. 

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