What it’s like to be an introvert at an extrovert school

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Mikaela Cresse

Once we find our ways of coping with these stresses, we can get through the year and the extraverted school system.

Being an introvert at any high school can be hard. (Alexi Newsome)

There are many students out there that are introverts and don’t feel as comfortable at school as extroverted students. They may feel out of place and may not know what to do around a large group of people; they may not want to get involved in all of the activities that the school has to offer.

Being an introvert is not a bad thing. I have met a lot of amazing people who are both introverts and extroverts. But the main question is how do introverts navigate through high school and all of its ups and downs?

Freshman Lily Hernandez claims that she is entirely an introvert, and described the most stressful part of the school day.

“When teachers call on people that don’t have their hand up, and they randomly pick on people, it is stressful,” Hernandez said.

Freshman student Sofia Graber says that she considers herself an extrovert, but she understands that school can be difficult sometimes and everyone has different views and approaches on it.

“For me, most of the time it’s homework…I’m busy with being with people and activities that sometimes get to be a lot,” Graber said.

Global Connections and Social Studies teacher Robyn Fardy describes herself as an omnivert, a mix of both introversion and extroversion.

“Introverted technically means that you get your energy from being alone, and being surrounded by people doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re shy. I think obviously school can be super overwhelming for people and as a teacher there are some things I can do but a lot of it is institutional. The school needs to create spaces for people to kind of have that alone time or take those minutes to themselves that might help them recharge,” Fardy said.

Everyone has their struggles with school whether it’s homework, activities or just the workload itself. Once we find our ways of coping with these stresses, we can get through the year and the extroverted school system. All in all, school has its effects on different people in different ways, but we can all help each other to enjoy and experience high school in a healthy and responsible way.