By Sabrina Merold ’13, Commentary Writer

I wake up every morning, like a large number of other high school students, with an email from College Board containing a link to the SAT Question of the Day. These emails are harmless and provide me with an annoying, but realistic reminder of the fact that I will be taking the SAT this year. For most high school students, however, this is far from the only reminder received everyday about the future. Nowadays, high school students no longer live in the moment, but are caught up in this constant stress, which reflects the growing competitive nature of society.

The amount of outside information that high school students are bombarded with is ridiculous. The College Board is notorious for using the information students give them when they take the PSAT sophomore year to flood students with letters and emails from colleges that they never even knew existed.  After talking to a friend who foolishly gave the College Board her email, she remarked that since the PSAT, she has received over 150 letters from colleges and pages of emails. Students not only receive information from colleges but also frequently get letters in the mail from tutoring programs, which each guarantee that through them, students will receive good scores on the SAT. By incessantly being contacted by colleges and tutoring services, high school students are constantly reminded of the pressure to do well on standardized testing and the fact that the college decision is around the corner.

On top of the barrage of information from colleges, high school students feel the pressure to maintain strong academics, excel at standardized tests, and participate in extra-curricular activities. With the highly competitive nature of society today, it seems as if the “top high school student” has to have a perfect GPA, receive phenomenal scores on the SAT, preside over several clubs, do research, have an internship, and still manage to maintain a social life. Recently, 7 high school students were arrested in an alleged SAT cheating scam in Long Island. The motive behind this current scandal indicates the undeniable fact that stakes for college admission are getting too high.

Newark Academy does a phenomenal job with providing students with guidance and College Counseling. As a result, we try to be well rounded and balance ourselves, instead of falling into the trap of becoming influenced and stressed by the prospect of the “perfect” high school student. Nevertheless, incessant pestering by colleges and learning about the phenomenal things that other high school students are doing makes it difficult for students to not get caught up in the stress of the future. This stress inevitably influences the decisions of students in high school and takes away from its one true goal: to live and learn in the moment.