Junior religion major Erin Miller leans over her laptop typing a paper that was due 15 minutes ago. It is 11 p.m. This is the first time she has had time to work on homework all day. She was in class in the morning and then had work in the Convo office following her class. In the afternoon, she had to work on the schedule for the next Veritas meeting. She then had class until 10 p.m.
Students are finding themselves committed to more and more activities outside of school.
“Students are getting over-involved without having the opportunity to step back and see if they are over involved,” Connie Horton, vice president of Student Affairs at Pepperdine University, said.
On average, students are involved in three activities outside of school, according to a Pepp Post poll of 53 students.
There are a number of factors that contribute to students becoming overcommitted.
“There is an increasing feeling of the fear of missing out, ” President Jim Gash said. “Students will go choose to stay up late instead of going to bed because people are doing stuff. Students will also choose to get up early instead of sleeping in because people are doing stuff.”
The poll revealed that 41 of the students said they were overwhelmed by all of their commitments.
“For college students who are generally overcommitted individuals, sometimes it can feel like everyday’s a fight to stay afloat,” Alumnus Omar Murphy wrote in a Sept. 19, 2018 Graphic article.
Sociological Reason Behind Overcommitment
Students feel pressure to be involved in many things besides school. This stems from pressure from the working world.
Sociology Professor Robin Perrin weighed in on the sociological reason behind students being involved in various activities on campus.
“The reason behind this is the development of the working world,” Perrin said. “Because college is becoming more common, students need to find ways to make themselves marketable and unique to the working world. That is why they feel the need to be overcommitted.”
Not all students feel this pressure to become overcommitted.
“When I came in freshman year, I did my best not to get involved in a lot of organizations,” Jessica Stomberg, a junior integrated marketing communication major, said. “I did not want to spread myself too thin, and I still don’t want to spread myself too thin.”
On-campus Resources
Pepperdine has a number of resources to help students who are feeling overwhelmed.
One of the resources is the Counseling Center. The Counseling Center is located in the Student Assistance Center, or the SAC, located above the CCB.
“Students come to the Counseling Center for a variety of concerns including homesickness, depression, anxiety, relationship problems, eating concerns, and addictive behaviors,” according to the Counseling Center’s website.
The Student Wellness Advisory Board, or S.W.A.B., is another resource for students to turn to when feeling stressed or overwhelmed.
S.W.A.B. is an on-campus club committed to the wellness of students at Pepperdine.
“S.W.A.B. just completed mental health week, and we are currently tabeling for suicide prevention,” sophomore Alie Libman said. “If a student is feeling overwhelmed, we tell students to do what they need to do to make them feel less stressed. This can be hanging out with friends, reading, watching Netflix, or anything else.”
First Lady Joline Gash is focused on helping with S.W.A.B.
“S.W.A.B. has many different ways for students to get plugged in to help them with their wellbeing,” Joline Gash said. “Students can come see pet therapy puppies when we have them on campus or come to our weekly art club meetings.”
Advice
Everyone has their own way of dealing with stress. For some people it is diving into school work, for others it is hanging out with friends.
“When I feel stressed, I go and workout,” junior economics major Kim Brooking said. “I recommend people do what makes them happy. If they are happy being in seven clubs, great! When they start to feel unhappy, that is when someone should reevaluate.”
Jim Gash agreed with the sentiment that students should figure out ways to handle stress due to overcommitment.
“When you are falling asleep in class, that is your body’s way of telling you that you are working too hard,” Jim Gash said. “Students need to pay attention to what their body is telling them.”
So What?
Being overcommitted has a number of consequences. One consequence of being overcommitted can cause students to shut down due to stress.
“Even though I do not feel I have taken on too much, I do get overwhelmed from time to time,” senior psychology major Alaina Sanchez said. “This causes me to get too in my head and makes me unable to do any work. It makes me shut down.”
Overcommitment can also cause a lack of sleep among students.
“The biggest way overcommitment impacts a student is via sleep deprivation,” Horton said. “When things get busy, unfortunately, the first thing to go is sleep. Sleep deprivation is linked to a number of mental health issues.”
Sleep deprivation causes a number of side effects.
Sleep deprivation leaves people at an increased risk for mental health issues like anxiety and depression. It can also cause increased mood swings and a number of other factors like stroke and heart disease, according to Colombia Neurology’s website.
Looking Toward the Future
In his inaugural address, Gash said that mental health is a crisis. He committed to creating a resilience and strength program that would help Pepperdine students deal with anxiety and depression.
This program is called RISE, or the Pepperdine Resilience-Informed Skills Education Program. It will help students develop resilience skills and how to help themselves and their peers in times of trouble, according to the RISE website.
For now, students can attend events with S.W.A.B or go to the Counseling Center to help them with the stress of their commitments.
Hadley Biggs completed the reporting for this story under the supervision of Dr. Elizabeth Smith and Dr. Theresa de los Santos in Jour 241 in Fall 2019. Dr. Smith supervised the web story.
