Pioneer’s Class of 2024 is far less religious than previous graduating classes, but also less likely to be engaging in sexual activity or cheating on school work, according to The Pioneer Optimist annual Senior Survey.
The Class of 2024 – the last to graduate that experienced one year of high school online due to the COVID-19 pandemic – reported enjoying their overall high school experience a bit more than recent classes, with 80% saying it was Enjoyable or Fairly Enjoyable, compared to 73% who said that last year.
Pioneer junior Svetlana Demuth said there are a few reasons why students may be liking school more. “I think our school is moving away from the pandemic, and we have more stability now with our new principal, Mr. Smith,” she said. “I also notice that he and Mr. Stern and some other staff are often out front greeting students when they come in. That’s really nice.”
Other big changes reflected in this year’s survey show that today’s teens are much more likely to have jobs than in the recent past. Approximately 80% of graduating seniors this year say they have or have had a paying job, compared to just 55% in 2018 (the last pre-pandemic graduating class), but a slight drop off from last year’s 81% who said they were working.
Today’s students seem less likely to cheat in school, with 21% saying they have “never” cheated this year, compared to 16% last year. Another 71% of this year’s seniors said they had never plagiarized a writing assignment, while 83% of last year’s said they had.
Seniors reporting they believe in God this year was 41%, compared to 47% who said they did in both the Class of 2018 and last year’s graduating class.
The Class of 2024 also reports that teens may be holding off their first sexual experience for college, as 68% reported that they are virgins. This compares with 60% who said they were last year, and just 48% who reported being virgins in 2018. Similarly, the percentage of seniors saying they have been in love is declining, from 55% in 2018 to 54% last year and 52% this year.
Teen mental health, which seemed to take a real hit during the COVID-19 crisis, appears to be rebounding. Among the Class of 2024, 33% report being treated for a mental illness, a fairly large decline from lat year’s 42% who said they had. The seniors were asked to type responses to the question “In what ways has your school experience contributed to your mental health, either positive or negative?” Their responses ranged from “Pioneer stresses me out a lot, and I have found very little wiggle room when it comes to academics” to “Academically, my mental health was never challenged. Anything school-related that typically affected my mental health happened socially. My friends made me feel great but sometimes, every now and again, major conflicts would come along and make me feel awful.” One senior wrote, “I love the friends I’ve made here and they have all positively impacted my mental health,” while another said, “Online school in 9th grade definitely had a long-lasting negative impact on my mental health and my ability to do things that I don’t care about.”
Smoking, both cigarettes and marijuana, appears to be on the decline among Pioneer students. In 2018, 9 out of 10 seniors said they had “never” smoked cigarettes; among today’s seniors, that number climbed to 96%, and just last year it was 92%. Regarding marijuana, in pre-pandemic 2018, 61% said they had never smoked it or only done so once or twice. Last year, 87% said they have never smoked marijuana or done so only “a few times,” and this year’s seniors report that 91% say they have never smoked or smoked a few times. Mariam Yansane, a Pioneer senior, says that students are finally recognizing the downside of using marijuana. “People are starting to realize that it really affects your performance, especially in school,” she said.
Students today appear to spend much less time on homework each week, with 57% saying they spend “5 or more hours” a week on homework. But homework may be on the rise again as last year that number was 56%, though in 2018 69% of seniors said they typically spent more than five hours per week on homework.
The percentage of students reporting that they got into their top choice of college showed a fairly sharp decline, from 63% saying they did last year to 57% this year. And a much higher percentage of seniors say they are going to college this year (98%) than said so last year (92%). Seniors say they are less sure about what they want to study, with just 34% saying they know what they want to do when they are older. This is much lower than the 43% who said they knew last year and the 65% who reported knowing what their future plans are in 2018. One Pioneer senior, Anya Ganger, said college is more competitive than ever before. “Now it’s like no one gets into where they want to go, and everyone wants to get into a top school,” she said.
The percentage of seniors saying they are leaving Pioneer High School a better person than when they arrived has steadily increased, with a whopping 89% saying so this year, compared to 85% last year and 83% in 2018.
Seniors were asked to write “in what ways” they were a better person, and many said they were “more mature.” One senior said, “I’m more mature, aware, kind, and understanding.” Another said, “I’m more open to other perspectives and I am a more considerate and compassionate person. I’m also more confident in myself than I was before.” And still another wrote, “I have learned so much emotionally and academically that I will be able to apply for the rest of my life.”