Do BHS students really have someone to go to?
A Hoofprint survey confirms the idea that the students of BHS are more likely than students around the country to have someone to go to when they struggle.
Introduction
While Mr. Mischke talks to each grade level about having someone that they can talk to/open up to about anything. Most students say they have someone to talk to. But do they really?
Why this topic matters
It matters to us because Principal Mark Mischke wants 100% of the student body to have someone that they can talk to about anything at school. This year, according the a BHS survey, 93% of students say they have an adult to talk to at school. Nationally, 54% students say they have someone to talk to at school. Additionally, 83% of students at BHS feel supported by other students. Nationally, 33% students say they feel supported by other students.
Do you have someone?
In May, The Hoofprint surveyed 30 students to see if a random sampling of students would reflect that number at the end of the school year.
Every single student surveyed said that they have someone they can talk to at school about anything, personal or school-related. They were asked to name either a student or a teacher they could go to. Of those students, 22 put down another student as someone they can talk to. 8 students put down a teacher as someone they can talk to.
Out of the 8, 5 students put down Science Teacher Amber Sedbrook as someone they feel comfortable talking to. Sedbrook shared why she thinks students are comfortable enough to talk to her.
“I think because I feel I can be hard on students in the sense of I want them to succeed I want to pull the best out of them,” she said, “but I’m gonna do it in a way where I’m trying to at least meet them halfway of where they’re at and then it’s we’ll get there together so I feel I’m kind of a warm demander towards I’m not doing it to be mean I’m doing it because I just want you to succeed and I feel like I’m pretty open and honest about most things I don’t really hide my personality that much so I feel like students understand where I’m coming from to where it’s like they get that I’m not trying to be mean I’m just trying to get their best.”
Why some students stay quiet
After looking at all the survey results 26 students are comfortable enough to ask teachers or classmates for help. However, 5 students were not comfortable enough to ask for help when they needed it.
One student shared, “I am comfortable enough to ask for help but then I overthink it and don’t.” This issue seems to be a common problem for a lot of students, where they are comfortable asking for help, but they get scared which can result from just being uncomfortable or the fear of your classmates or even your teacher judging you.”
Reflection
Reflecting on all the surveys that we collected we noticed that everyone said they have someone they can talk to but are they actually comfortable talking to someone or are they just putting down yes to be done with the survey. While this is encouraging, it also raised additional questions. Having someone available to talk to does not necessarily mean students feel completely comfortable opening up about personal struggles. If we were to create the survey again, we would include more open-ended questions to better understand students’ relationships with the people around them and how comfortable they feel asking for help when they need it.
