I’ve been filling in my planner with all my to-do items for the week in multicolored categories every Sunday night since I was in sixth grade. This year, however, my planner is a bit more full with a new green subcategory. “Fill out symptom survey online.” “Physician Appt.” “10:00 VITALS AT HC DON’T FORGET!!!”
As a student navigating a serious medical issue at Deerfield, my days look very different from those of my healthier peers. I don’t do a co-curricular activity which gives my body time to rest, as well as time to attend my various doctor’s appointments. I don’t participate in sit-down meals in order to manage my diet, and I meet with the staff at the Health Center twice a week for a quick vital check. Even my arrival this year looked very different from those of past years; I attended my first class two weeks late, as I was still in a medical facility when Fall Term started.
My experience with the Health Center this year differs drastically from last year, when I visited the Health Center twice a month at most for medicine to help me deal with relatively minor issues such as migraines, cold, or strep. One time, I needed to stay in the Health Center for the day because my migraine left me especially sensitive to light and sound and a bit nauseous. When I tried to start working on what I could so I wouldn’t be too far behind, a nurse kindly told me that I could either sleep, or, if I was well enough, leave and return to class. At that moment, I realized that the I could only be seen as too ill to stay awake, or fine enough to go to class. Now, the nurse was probably encouraging me to sleep to make sure that I wasn’t abusing the Health Center to complete work, but there is plenty of gray area between completely incapicitated and healthy, and within that, there is a large subset of illnesses where a person can’t go to class but can still do work.
I know by now almost everyone has caught some version of the “Freshman Flu,” “Village Virus,” or, to use a term that puts slightly less blame on the Class of 2026, the common cold. Last year, I experienced just how hard it is to take a sick day when you just don’t feel like you can get out of bed without vomiting or passing out from exhaustion. However, the school offers much less empathy to students with an ordinary illness than those with a chronic one. Excluding COVID-19 and fevers, students have to self-advocate to take sick days.
Although this lack of empathy is largely due to structural problems with school accommodations, such as limited help from the Health Center and the difficulty of receiving exemptions or extensions for work, school culture is also a major contributor, especially in terms of stigma coming from the student body itself. It’s no secret that Deerfield is a school for overachievers in every discipline. Sleep deprivation, absurdly long studying periods, and the number of meals skipped to do homework are not seen as hardships to avoid, but sources of pride that show dedication to your work. In a similar vein, those who take sick days can feel a subconscious pressure to keep on working through an illness, perhaps thinking it proves just how many extra miles they will go for a coveted A+. This idea is only reinforced by my experiences in the Health Center that implied I could either sleep or leave. Assistant Head of Nursing Daika Diefendorf said that the reason students need to stay at the Chen to get their APs cleared is for “accountability and safety,” but in my opinion, this policy forces students to make the stressful choice between staying at a place where they can’t work or attending classes while feeling horrible.
Yes, I acknowledge that there is a distinct difference between a chronic condition and a stomach bug, but I still believe the school should make a stronger effort to show the empathy it has extended to me (and doubtlessly many other students with long term medical issues) to any ill student. Last fall, I had a two-week-long head cold when all I wanted to do was sleep for fifteen hours. While a cough isn’t as painful as a constant poking and prodding—which I endured when nurses drew my blood weekly to check my vital signs over the summer—my cold still made me feel terrible: stuffed up, nauseous, and just plain tired. I believe both of these conditions make a student eligible for support and rest time, even though the cold can be healed with some medicine and rest while a long term condition might never fully go away. I immensely appreciate all the support the school has shown me this year, but I would have appreciated receiving the same empathy during my illness last year, even though it wasn’t a diagnosed condition.
The Student Handbook is incredibly vague around medical excuses for missed classes. Currently, there are no clear guidelines around missed classwork. When outlining how a student should go about completing missed assignments, The Student Handbook only says that students should “talk to their teachers if they are unable to complete a graded assignment because of illness or injury, whether it is an in-class assignment such as a test or quiz or an out-of-class assignment such as a paper or project.” This doesn’t provide any exact details. Upon reading this, I immediately wondered whether a student could request to move back assignments because they missed class content, as well as the maximum extension length for which a student can ask. To clarify the bounds of Health center policy, student government candidates have been advocating for a formal “mental health day” system to be put in place, which I support. At the beginning of my freshman year, I believed that mental health days actually existed but upon investigating the student handbook, I discovered that it was only a wishful rumor among students. Mental health is just as important as physical health, and the student body would benefit from the establishment of a clear, widespread advertisement of an official policy on how to take a daylong break.
While administration would need to place some precautions to ensure that healthy students didn’t use the Health Center to skip a test or take a quick nap, I do believe there should be a more formal “sick day” system in place. In an ideal world, this would include detailed guidelines about what to expect regarding missed classwork, including information about tests and quizzes when a student has missed class content. Additionally, I think there should be some system where a student can skip an academy event, such as a sit down meal, without having to be in the Health Center if they have reported being sick within a certain amount of time. This way, students wouldn’t have to worry about APs or go through the process of checking into and staying at the Chen. I believe the implementation of such a system would massively benefit the student body.
If I was told this year that I would receive no accommodations for my medical issue, I would have had no idea of how to approach the school year. I would have had to have appointments late at night and accrue so many APs that I would be promptly put on Level 3 Sanctions. Luckily, I have received exactly what I need in terms of extensions and guidance this year. Deerfield, of course, would never flat out deny assistance to any student, but I still think Deerfield would have a happier, healthier student body if everyone, like me, receives exactly what they need to fully recover.
Throughout this year, the Student Life Office, Academic Support Office, Health Center staff, and my teachers have been almost overly generous and compassionate in helping me return to my studies. And while I have had to awkwardly avoid or vaguely answer questions about why I’m not boarding this term without sacrificing my medical privacy, my peers have been understanding as well. Because of my condition, I have received countless extensions and emails telling me “not to worry about that assignment,” as well as guidance from Director of Academic Support Mrs. Koyama and Director of Medical Services Dr. Benson on how to best reintegrate into the hectic Deerfield lifestyle. Overall, I could not be more thankful for all the support Deerfield has provided, and their grace has made it easier to manage my number one priority: returning to full health.