When you ask a college student how they are, they will often tell you their schedule instead of how they are feeling. Presently, attending four-year colleges and majoring in the harder majors are the best ways to get ahead in life. Couple this with the spike in college attendance, and you have a massive amount of stress on your shoulders to do well.
Students take more hours to graduate faster and move to the next step (law school, medical school, graduate school, etc.), which means that they have more work to do per night and more exams per month. For example, today I was in class from around 9:30-11:15 a.m. I went back at 1 to take a two-hour chemistry exam, but I studied not only all night for this exam but also during this gap. Afterward, I rushed home to start this article, which I couldn't do beforehand because I had chemistry homework, a post-lab, and a pre-lab to do before my next lab (which is tomorrow at 1 p.m.).
This is for only one of the classes that I am taking for the summer to get ahead. This stress can manifest itself into a looming cloud that hangs over you. When this stress and/or other places of stress come together, you can be overwhelmed, and without proper help, your mental health can disappear.
While this may cause a slip in grades, it could also cause something much more permanent. "That rate is lower for people ages 15 to 24, for whom the suicide rate is about 7.5 per every 100,000, according to Paul McAnear, director of the Student Counseling Center at UT and a panelist at Tuesday's discussion" (Ohm, Rachel. "University of Tennessee Students Say Suicide, Mental Health Should Be Talked about More on Campus."). Campus suicide is something that no one seems to talk about, but it is something that happens nonetheless. Also, there doesn't seem to be much talk about mental health at all. Even though UT is trying to improve their health program, awareness is the first step and shouldn't be overlooked
Along with the academic stress, UTK is prone to a ton of social stress. Gender dysphoria arguments, racism, sexism, homophobia occur everywhere, and the campus, while generally very excepting, is sadly no exception. Threats and bullying can wear on someone's soul faster than an ice cube can melt in the desert. This is also something not really discussed. In my own experience, I've witnessed threats and harassment being swept under the rug. It's up to us to start the conversation, and it is up to UT to help us flourish in the environment we pay so much to be present in.
