A quick verbal survey among high schoolers will make you realize very prominent problems, such as burnout. All high school students experience burnout, whether it is during the end of quarters, semesters or AP exam season..

There are not a lot of things that I miss from Elementary school, but one thing that shaped everyone’s elementary school experience was recess. Recess was a 30-minute playtime where students were able to run around, play tag, chat, eat snacks and take a bathroom break. It was a time to socialize. Recess was intended to just relax and take a “break”.

The question has to be asked: why didn’t this idea continue?

Relatively, high school is so much harder and tougher on one’s mental health than elementary school. Not just more academically challenging, but in high school, you have to manage a social life, extracurriculars, College Board and being on track for college, all while being a teenager, we need a break.

“A lot of people don’t even use lunch to spend time with their friends, they use it to catch up on classes so recess would be a fun outlet,” junior Yasmin Gorham said.

In the almost 7-hour day that MCPS puts us through every day, there are no 15 minutes for us to take an intermission.

Especially for students who take a lot of high-level classes, you are constantly going from one class to the next, making school such a high-stress environment. Students need to rest their heads for a while.

“We should have nap time, because who doesn’t want to take a nap?” junior Leslie Garcia said.

Science supports it, studies support it and students support it, so why does the county not?