Although one may not see it some of the time, teens carry lots of weight on their shoulders.

Watching teens trying to balance out their school work, holding a job and even staying above water when it comes to mental health can be hard to watch. 

“It’s so hard to juggle school, my full time job and trying to stay positive, when i’m looking at my homework and then looking up at the clock and seeing my shift starts in an hour; it increases my anxiety knowing I will be home late tonight and won’t have time later to do it and running on no sleep,” senior Megan Morris said.

Some have had those restless nights of staying up, scrambling to look for papers and trying to figure out what’s due the next day. Others  often see the big bags under our eyes and negative tone in their voices the next morning.  

“Sometimes I will take a second look at my daughter in the morning before her virtual learning session and she looks like she was hit by a bus. I would ask what she was doing up so late and she would tell me she was up doing a project or some type homework late last night,” mother Wendy Morris said.

Running around all day and then coming home to extra school work can be tough as well. After asking a few students, seven out of 10 teenagers said they’re more mentally drained from online learning than from their actual job and extra curriculars.

“I almost feel like my brain is fried. I have a hard time looking at a computer all day, but being able to go work for a few hours almost takes my mind off school for a while, not having to worry about my school work waiting for me to get home,”  senior Megan Deladurantaye said. “I like to be able to move around and talk to my co-workers, since we’re not having much social time with being online.”