Happiness @ d.tech
Lydia Rak | lrak25@dtechhs.org
Mackenzie Chan | mjchan25@dtechhs.org
The search for happiness is universal. While d.tech is not designed specifically for the purpose of providing happiness, we know that students perform better when happy, and that learning is stronger when infused with joy. So where, when and how do d.tech students find joy? Leda Dowd, an 11th grader says, “ I think I find happiness at d.tech through my classmates and my friends.” She added on by saying, “I think we have a strong sense of community here and I can really find the people who have similar interests to me and have a lot of fun with them.” Freshman Maiko Ono explains that she finds happiness with her friends and during WYN time, and she believes that her friends would agree. 11th grader, Olivia Watson continues, “I find my joy probably most in my friend group. I feel like I have a really good social life at school and my friends mean a lot to me here. They help me get through my day and make me want to go to school more to see them.”
It seems that the sources of joy are neither specific nor universal. Instead, they are unique to each student. But some patterns and themes emerged. d.tech students share a general source of happiness from their peers and community, regardless of their grade. Sophomore Isobel Martin comments, “I like d.tech because they have two hours at the end of the day where we can work on what we need to. If we finish our homework during class time we get to use that time for socialization which most schools don’t get to do.”
d.tech students are right on track to what experts say about happiness. According to the Stanford University website “Heaps of research suggest that social connections make people happier.” Berkeley also talks about a recent study on happiness where they looked into people's happiness and life satisfaction based on the goals they have. They sorted the goals into two groups: personal and social. Personal could include quitting smoking or getting a better job, and social incorporated things like spending more time with friends and family,volunteering, meeting new people, etc. They conclude that “Ultimately, people who wrote down at least one social strategy tended to follow through and spend more time socializing that year, and they (in turn) became more satisfied with their lives.” They continue by saying, “People who focused on individual goals didn’t improve their life satisfaction over the year.” The results furthermore show us that social connections contribute to people's joy. This is essential to what d.tech students are saying. d.tech gives students a lot of chances to socialize which is increasing students happiness.
It seems there are a lot of things that bring students joy but one thing that stands out is that d.tech gives students time to talk and hang out with their friends at school. WYN time, sports and d.tech’s overall atmosphere and schedule provides students opportunities to socialize which ultimately brings students happiness.