The Emotional Development of

Howard County High School

Students

Laurel Pulford

Cynthia A. Schulmeyer, Ph. D., NCSP

Mrs. Mary Jane Sasser

River Hill High School

March 17, 2017

The time that a student spends in high school is often noted as the most
transformative and thus critical time of their lives. In addition to significant biological and
chemical changes going on within the students, there are environmental changes occurring
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in high school students lives such as new social and academic pressures. As a result,
especially within a top ranking county such as Howard County, students can become
extremely stressed and are exposed to those potential effects. Stress can result in physical
ailments on the body such as headaches and/or fatigue, emotional effects such as anxiety,
feeling overwhelmed, and/or depression, and effects on behavior such as social withdrawal,
drug or alcohol abuse, and/or over or under-eating (Mayo). In order to avoid or lessen the
detrimental effects of stress, people utilize coping skills whether they be positive, negative,
or neither depending on their overall effect. Some examples of positive coping skills are
sleeping, exercising, and talking to someone about their feelings; some negative coping
skills include drug or alcohol use and staying up late (The First-Year). The way that
students handle emotional stress is important to their overall health, as the chosen
alleviation method can have potentially beneficial or severely harmful effects on the student.
Students often encourage each other to partake in negative coping activities like drinking
and partying in order to blow off some steam; however, these perceptions need to be
diverted in order to prevent harmful consequences to the student. Instead, students need to
be taught alternative methods of coping with their stress either by direct education or by the
indirect development of their emotional intelligences and their ability to make good
emotional decisions for themselves. Emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to:
recognize, understand and manage our own emotions and also to recognize, understand and
influence the emotions of others (What is Emotional Intelligence). These skills are thus vital
and translational in every aspect of any persons life in allowing them to register occurrences in
and around their lives and to move forward productively from that point of recognition.
Because students spend a majority of their adolescence in high school, schools and
their systems are presented with an opportunity for emotional education of their students.
Schools can initiate and then guide the development of students emotional skills in order to
encourage beneficial metacognition. People often hold the mistaken belief that mental
health is not the responsibility of the schools and that, instead, it is the responsibility of the
family to find services outside of the school system (Desrochers and Houck). Because the
development of socioemotional skills is so necessary in adolescence, high schools should
work toward encouraging the development of skills that students can use in college or in the
workplace. With a shift in mindset from Howard County administration in the emotional
education of high school students and the general high school culture, students would be
better equipped emotionally for college and the workplace.
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There is a gap in resources in Howard County specifically for the emotional wellness
development of students. There are few resources within schools for students to comfortably
take advantage of. The uniform resources for emotional health across the county include the
student services staff, the psychologist, and the student resource officer. The counselling office
is the most commonly and generally used resource for students throughout Howard County
schools. The counselling office acts as the middleman for students between school affairs and
outside professionals (Krouse). The many responsibilities of the counselling offices include
talking to students about where to get academic or emotional help, having frank conversations
about what is best for the student, conducting suicide interventions and responding to teacher or
self-referrals. Counselors reach students through specific one-on-one consultations and class
visits and lessons. In one-on-one consultations, a variety of things could be discussed from
scheduling issues and goal setting to dealing with stress to intervening a suicidal event. These
consultations are vital to the lives of students involved; however, this is a very small amount of
the student population that is reached in this way. Although each student receives attention from
his/her counselor for the scheduling and college application processes, few students receive
specific attention within their emotional development because of things such as lack of the
counselors awareness of any issues. Counselor awareness of struggles, however, is not the
issue, the issue is that the only emotional attention students receive is when counselors are
made aware of their struggles. Relying solely on referrals and walk-ins to the student services
center to educate and encourage those students who are struggling is a flawed system because
it leaves wide gaps for students are struggling and are able to hide it to not receive proper
guidance and support.
Furthermore, classroom lessons are not efficient enough in teaching emotional skills
because of the material required by the county to be covered in that time slot and the sparsity of
lessons. Often the lessons are used to give students time to take aptitude tests and do goal
setting activities and also to remind the students of the guidance offices services. Again, these
skills and lessons are very important as students begin the emotional developing emotional
capabilities such as goal setting, nevertheless, these counselor-guided lessons are not frequent
enough for these skills to stick with students. In this way, counselors are able to impact a large
amount of students; however, they have a large amount of other material and agenda topics to
get to before the development of the students emotional intelligences are reached and
satisfiably retained. A further resource for emotional development help for students is necessary
for positive developmental encouragement.
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Within the Howard County system, it appears that there are very few
programs/initiatives/clubs that focus on the emotional wellness or development of most or all
students. The few that are scattered throughout the county are excellent resources that promote
healthy relationships and mental health awareness; however, decreases in participation in clubs
and programs force the initiatives of the programs to spread thin. Mental health clubs with
initiatives to promote positive mental health and coping skills are scattered throughout the
county. Active Minds was instituted in some high schools to promote positive mental health and
actively seeks to achieve this goal. However, as president of the River Hill chapter and having
talked to other groups from different schools, the researcher knows that these clubs are
struggling to gain members and ground to be able to adequately impact their schools. Also,
there is a mentoring program at Glenelg High School that encourages a supportive environment
for upperclassmen to mentor incoming students and help them feel comfortable and cared for at
Glenelg. This program is selective in which upperclassmen are able to mentor underclassmen in
an effort that these students would learning positive emotional strategies from their mentors.
Further, these upperclassmen attend additional meetings and lessons in order to ensure the
preparation of both mentor and mentee (Hirsch). Mrs. Hirsch describes Glenelg as a
comfortable, warm, and welcoming environment which could be attributed to the mentor
program she began there. The mentor-to-mentee program at Glenelg is an excellent program
crafted for emotional encouragement and formation of relationships in a large and intimidating
school environment. There should be more programs spread throughout the county that have
the same goals as this program and similar population widespread effects. On a final note,
academic support clubs and tutoring programs are available in schools in order to help alleviate
academic stress by taking tangible initiative. These are excellent resources found within each
school in the county that help students emotionally by practically working through academically
stressful situations.
There is a gap in resources throughout the county where students are sufficiently
supported by the school system to emotionally develop. Although students have access to the
few resources available to them, students do not take advantage of them and are at a highly
increased risk of developing negative coping skills that society deems as normal and cool. The
impact that intentional programs such as the mentor program at Glenelg have on the overall
environment and culture of a school are inspiring of what a some motivation towards improving
the emotional culture of a school can achieve. There should be more programs that focus on
any area of emotional intelligence (relational skills, self-awareness, motivation, etc.).
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The gap in resources further leads to the conclusion that there is a gap in focus within
the county on the issue of the emotional health of its students. Howard County is one of the top
countys in the nation with three high schools being in the top 10 high schools in Maryland
according to U.S. News & World Report. Consequently, large academic pushes from
administration to maintain this superior national position make developing and maintaining an
overall focus of emotional health and wellness of students and staff difficult to achieve.
Having responsibilities that are toward data driven results and also toward critically
emotionally ill students decreases the school counselors abilities to focus on the schools
mental health as a whole. With a student population of around 1,500 students, counselors at
Howard High School struggle to effectively assist students with special and highly specific
emotional needs let alone the population as a whole. Students with highly specific emotional
needs often have specific plans set out between the students school counselor and outside
professional therapist in order to accommodate their needs for attention. Therefore, less
attention can go toward initiatives of school wide teaching of emotional metacognitive skills such
as positive coping skills (examples of these will be discussed later) (Hildreth). Counselors have
responsibilities not only to critically emotionally ill students but to also work toward creating
healthy schedules, writing college recommendations, and helping seniors with the application
process, helping students in crises and other obligations that do not allow them to focus on the
schools morality and mentality as a whole. School counselors do everything and then some for
the school population and are truly at the center of helping the population function in many
ways. Increased awareness of mental health and healthy emotional skills is very important for a
school and that is the focus [of the counselors]. If you were to ask each of these counselors
why they went into the profession, that is the focus. We want to help students socially and
emotionally, thats probably our main reason for going into this. It wasnt to help kids get into
Harvard, that wasnt really what we got into this for. Its just what the job has become (Krouse).
Counselors would much rather be spending their time planning lessons and working toward
school wide initiatives that would build up mental health awareness and abilities; however,
academic pushes from administration sternly restrict these ambitions.
Howard County sets goals for the system to become the highest performing
academically (Cohen). Initiatives set forth by the county often pertain towards maintaining the
incredible national rankings that the countys high schools occupy. And so counselors, arguably
the most valuable emotional resource for students, are under pressure of their own to increase
the number of students in AP classes and taking standardized national exams. One of the ways
that schools are able to progress and get recognition is getting as many kids to take AP classes
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and AP tests as they can (Klyap). Instruments of measure for academics are quantifiably driven,
not qualifiably. Not every student can be based on a quantifiable measurement (Devlin).
Although society has made it out to be this was, test scores are not the definitive answer of the
progress and success of students. Nevertheless, pressures for success and recognition
naturally drive schools to focus on encouraging their students to help the schools achieve these
things. Within this mad rush for success, students are caught up in the mix emotionally and the
effects on them are terribly detrimental to their emotional well-being.
While the pursuit of academic success is not a bad thing at all, the countys focus on
Number results is increasing stress and competitive culture rather than encouraging a more
positive, supportive environment (Cohen). Counselors from high performing schools such as
River Hill, Glenelg, and Atholton when asked to define/describe the culture at their schools all
immediately described their schools as academically motivated and high stress. Michael
Krouse defined the culture at River Hill to be that [the students] are going to get As no matter
what; they are going to do whatever it takes. The pressure to be perfect and the stigmatization
of anything less within these schools, classrooms, and households weighs heavily upon the
students shoulders. This incredible burden leads to high amounts of stress and anxiety which
call for strong coping skills. Often when left to their own resources, students find that the coping
skills that are strong enough in their eyes are often negative ones such as using drugs, drinking,
and partying. It is necessary that students under such pressure resort to positive coping skills,
such as exercise and talking about it, in order to protect themselves and their futures that the
academic pressures are working so hard to preserve.
An interesting story where school morale was not described as stressful but actually as
positive and spirited is in Hammond High School. According to US. News and World Report,
Hammond is one of the worst performing schools in the county and is ranked 54th in Maryland
schools; however, this academic difference between Hammond and the rest of the schools in
the county may be a clue to why these students are described as so much happier. Hammond
has students that are homeless and 34% or 385 students are on a Free and/or Reduced Lunch
program. Students are concerned with where they will sleep each night or where their next meal
will be from. Often the parents are working up to three jobs that forces them absent from their
childrens lives so the students make poor choices. In summary, academic success is not a
priority. The principal at Hammond does an excellent job at focusing on helping her students
needs and encouraging a positive atmosphere over pressuring them to achieve academic
success (Shomali). This uplifting atmosphere simply encourages students to still come to school
so that it might be a place of refuge and hope for a better future. When the struggles of the
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necessities life dont stand in the way of students and their families, their stresses are
channelled into other achievements such as academics. Although these burdens are far
different and incomparable, both the student with familial stress and the student with academic
stress are under an enormous burden. But which student is being better supported emotionally
in the environment they are districted to? While school should be a large priority in each
students lives, the mentality of schools should focus more on the students and providing for
their needs and fostering a positive atmosphere may better encourage them and their emotional
development in the pursuit of success.
The general focus of a school and its administration appears to influence the morale and
culture of a school and its students. The more pressure to be academically successful, as
measured by quantitative test scores, apparently the more stressed and competitive the
schools environment. Students within such environments push themselves beyond their limits
for numerical results the schools and families pressure them to achieve. While these numerical
results are very important in determining students futures and the standings of the school and
the system in national rankings, the emotional success of students should be better and more
aggressively addressed.
Schools should make more of an effort toward stronger emotional development and
preparation of their students because of their lack of coping skills see in college freshmen. In
2016, 50 graduates from Howard County along with 150 other students from Maryland in
general, while in their first year at college, were surveyed in order to determine their emotional
preparation and to better understand their emotional experiences between high school and
college. In order to analyze the level of students coping skills, Howard County students
answered in Figure 1, Which of the following activities, if any, did you typically do when you felt
overwhelmed or stressed during your final year in high school (or first term at
college/university)? Please select all that apply. Positive coping skills within Figure 1 are
defined from the answer choices Hung out with Friends to Studied and negative coping skills
Stayed up late to Use prescription drugs and also arguably the answer choice Nothing
(The First-Year). Most provoking, there was a significant increase in students who chose to drink
alcohol when stressed or overwhelmed. This is very concerning as to the swiftness that
students turn to drugs and alcohol when the resources become readily available. This leads to
the question of whether or not certain steps could have been taken to prevent such behavior
once resources are convenient. Could students have been better taught of positive coping skills
and their enhanced effectiveness prior to the conceptions of bad habits and moral perceptions.
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On a more positive note, there was an increase in students who chose to talk to someone about
it and also studied when they were stressed or overwhelmed.

Figure 1 (Pulford)

Diving deeper into the students true feelings, Figure 2 displays rate of agreement with
various statements. First, a significant amount of students do not talk about their feelings about
their difficulties with college. Being able to be open up to others and be vulnerable is something
that is highly negatively stigmatized within this society. Dr. John Coughlin, the director of
Counseling and Career Services at Howard Community College recognizes the results of this
stigmatization and believes that the important thing is teaching [the students] to learn to ask for
help. This skill can be translated into so many different aspects of life where pride and
reputation play a key, obstruent role in pursuit of success. Often students did not feel in control
of their situation. Time-management skills and others tools could be better developed and
encouraged in high school so that these students can feel more equipped to handle such
overwhelming situations. When plainly asked for their preference of better emotional preparation
within high school, students most students wished for a stronger education. An expected and
overwhelming majority of students agree with the statement that there was more emphasis on
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% of Students that Agree with the being academically prepared for college than
Following Statements being emotionally ready. Students perceived
the focuses of their high schools to be highly
academic. There is a whole other aspect to
life after high school both in college or in the
professional world that apparently high
schools and school systems overlook.
Arguably, the development of emotional
metacognitive skills and character are far
more important and valuable and
translational than any other skill set.
The way that Figure 2 portrays students
opinions and feelings clearly defines the
incredible gaps in emotional preparation for
college life. Skill sets that should/could have
already been developed such as time
management are highly valuable and
Figure 2 (Pulford) applicable to all walks and stages of life.

Figure 3

As portrayed in Figure 3, when asked to describe their overall experiences in both high
school and college on a scale from terrible to excellent, 1 out of every 10 Howard County
graduates rated their high school experience as excellent but their first term in college as poor
or fair (Pulford). There is something different between these students lives in high school and
college that affected how they viewed their experiences. This trend may have occurred due to
unexpected changes and challenges between the two. There are a many possible number of
reasons for this trend and without concrete resolution to where this trend originated from, the
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researcher is unable to absolutely say that the trend is due to under emotional preparedness of
students for these changes. Albeit, the trend is interesting and cause for further investigation.
Finally, some interesting numbers from Figure 4 were that 12% of students felt
depression, 56% felt stressed, and 46% felt overwhelmed most or all of the time in their first
term at college. On the other hand, 56% also felt happy, 43% incontrol and confident, and 40%
felt optimistic. This is unfortunate but I wonder what students feel like and emotions that they go
through most or all of the time in high school. This gap in results does not allow the researcher
to properly conclude whether these emotions increased or decreased. The ideal is that students
would be able to better deal with situations and not experience such negative emotions.

Figure 4 (Pulford)

Without a doubt, the emotional development of adolescents is a highly important process

that concretely determines their emotional intelligence and metacognitive skills as they move
forward toward a successful future. Because the development of emotional skills is so
necessary in adolescence, high schools should work toward encouraging the growth of skills
that students can use in college or in the workplace. Often when left to their own resources,
students develop highly harmful coping skills due to environmental factors such as peer
pressure and negative societal moral normalities; however, with a shift in focus from the Howard
County administration to improve the emotional education of high school students and their
school culture, students would be better equipped emotionally for college and the workplace.
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Suggestions: Coping Skills

Sources such as Mental Health Wellness Week are excellent resources for discovering
the difference between negative and positive coping skills and steps to take toward developing
positive coping skills. The following are Ten Tips for Better Mental Health from Mental Health
Wellness Week that can give inspiration and leads as to how schools can go about
implementing mental health initiatives. Each tip can be creatively transferred into an active
program or initiative. A a seminar series or even singular class lesson can be created on
recognition of self and capabilities and weaknesses and how recognizing weaknesses is good
despite the stigmatization of weakness in this society in order to build confidence and take
steps towards identifying and dealing with moods. This class would work toward developing the
students emotional intelligences and how they are able to perceive themselves and the
situations they are in. The third suggestion, Make Time for Family and Friends, could be based
on a discussion or program such as the mentor program at Glenelg which encourages time and
space to develop and form meaningful relationships. In order to boost morale, classes can take
volunteer field trips; also there are many community service clubs throughout the county that
offer excellent opportunities for volunteering. Again, each tip has the potential to be turned into a
positive and productive initiative that would allow students to gain both metacognitive skills and
practical skills intended for preparing them for a successful future.

1. Build Confidence - identify your abilities and weaknesses together, accept them, build on them and do
the best you can with what you have.
2. Accept Compliments - many of us have difficulty accepting kindness from others but we all need to
remember the positive in our lives when times get tough.
3. Make Time for Family and Friends - these relationships need to be nurtured; if taken for granted they
will dwindle and not be there to share life's joys and sorrows.
4. Give and Accept Support - friends and family relationships thrive when they are "put to the test." Just as
you seek help when you are having a tough time, a friend or family member might come to you in their time of
need.
5. Create a Meaningful Budget - financial problems are big causes of stress, especially in today's
economy. Over-spending on our "wants" instead of our "needs" can compound money worries. Writing down
where you money is going helps you keep a closer eye on your finances.
6. Volunteer - being involved in community gives a sense of purpose and satisfaction that paid work cannot.
Find a local organization where you life skills can be put to good use.
7. Manage Stress - we all have stressors in our lives but learning how to deal with them when they threaten
to overwhelm us will help to maintain our mental health.
8. Find Strength in Numbers - sharing a problem with others who have had similar experiences may help
you find a solution and will make you feel less isolated. Even talking about situation with people who have not
experienced what you are going through is a good way to gain outside perspective.
9. Identify and Deal with Moods - we all need to find safe and constructive ways to express our feelings of
anger, sadness, joy and fear. Channeling your emotions creatively is a wonderful way to work off excess feelings.
Writing (keeping a journal), painting, dancing, making crafts, etc. are all good ways to help deal with emotions.
10. Learn to Be at Peace with Yourself - get to know who you are, what makes you really happy
and learn to balance what you can and cannot change about yourself.

(Mental Health Week)

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Works Cited
Cohen, Philip. "Opinions on Emotional Preparedness of Atholton High Schoolers." Personal interview. 11 Nov.
2016.
Coughlin, John. "Opinions on Emotional Preparedness of High Schoolers." Personal interview. 12 Sep. 2016.
Desrochers, John Edward, and Gail M. Houck. "Depression in Childhood and Adolescence: A Quiet Crisis."
Depression in Children and Adolescents: Guidelines for School Practice. Silver Spring, MD: National
Association of School Nurses, 2013. 11-21. Print.
Devlin, Carolyn. "Opinions on Emotional Preparedness of High Schoolers." Personal interview. 21 Nov. 2016.
"THE FIRST-YEAR COLLEGE EXPERIENCE: A Look into Students Challenges and Triumphs during Their First
Term at College." Harris Poll. Online. 8 Oct. 2015. PowerPoint Slides.
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Hildreth, Nicola. "Opinions on Emotional Preparedness of Howard High Schoolers." Personal interview. 26 Sep.
2016.
Hirsch, Mindy. "Opinions on Emotional Preparedness of Glenelg High Schoolers." Personal interview. 16 Nov.
2016.
"Howard County Public Schools District." U.S. News & World Report. U.S. News & World Report, n.d. Web. 19
Jan. 2017.
Klyap, John. "Opinions on Emotional Preparedness of High Schoolers." Personal interview. 10 Oct. 2016.
Krouse, Michael. "Opinions on Emotional Preparedness of River Hill High Schoolers." Personal interview. 26 Oct.
2016.
Pulford, Laurel. Reflection of High School and First Term of College Experience. 30 May. 2016. Raw data. N.p.
Shomali, Margaret. "Opinions on Emotional Preparedness of High Schoolers." Personal interview. 26 Oct. 2016.
"Strategies for Good Mental Health Wellness." Mental Health Wellness Week - Mental health wellness is a way
of life! N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2017.
"Stress symptoms: Effects on your body and behavior." Mayo Clinic. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2017.
"What Is Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman." IHHP. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2017.

Works Consulted
DeForge, Cristina. "Opinions on Emotional Preparedness of Howard High Schoolers." Personal interview. 26
Sep. 2016.
Derwart-Marton, Patricia. "Opinions on Emotional Preparedness of High Schoolers." Personal interview. 14 Nov.
2016.
Hoffman, Caren. "Opinions on Emotional Preparedness of High Schoolers." Personal interview. 11 Nov. 2016.
O'Shaughnessy, Michael. "Opinions on Emotional Preparedness of High Schoolers." Personal interview. 20 Oct.
2016.
Pizzo, Marianne. "Opinions on Emotional Preparedness of River Hill High Schoolers." Personal interview. 10
Nov. 2016.
Vangeli, Philip. "Opinions on Emotional Preparedness of River Hill High Schoolers." Personal interview. 24 Oct.
2016.