I am a sixth grader (now a seventh grader as of 2025) at BMSS and although I haven't been here for long, I've noticed many, many issues in my own and my fellow students' mental health. Are you a student in BISD? A parent? A teacher? How does this affect you, you might ask? Students are struggling in school because of the pressure of many things. Maybe it's classwork, athletics, or social pressure, but anxiety affects students more often than not. Parents frequently worry about their middle school children because of this stress. Teachers struggle to teach their students what they need to learn because the students can't focus. What are we going to do about this? One word. Recess.

We need to change this in BISD middle schools. Giving students just a minimum of 15 short minutes can significantly impact their ability to learn. If we gave students time to get their energy out and socialize with friends, it would be so much easier to absorb information because we'd have a clearer mind. And, believe it or not, pre-teens and teens are still growing. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, "Just as physical education and physical fitness have well-recognized benefits for personal and academic performance, recess offers its own unique benefits. Recess represents an essential, planned respite from rigorous cognitive tasks. It affords a time to rest, play, imagine, think, move, and socialize." They also state that "recess helps young children to develop skills that are otherwise not acquired in the more structured classroom environment." This further proves my point that recess should be given to middle schoolers because it can help us learn to socialize with each other and give us physical activity that doesn't involve the pressure of coaches and athletics. However, if we don't change this, students' grades will continue to decline along with their mental health. 

Now is the time to help our health. If we don't act soon our students could be at risk of mental health issues and permanent low grades. If we just had 15 minutes or more to get our energy out and talk to our friends we could focus and get so much more done in class. HELP. OUR. HEALTH. Us middle schoolers want, and NEED recess. "Children need recess. Recess benefits every aspect of childhood development—physical development, of course, but also social, emotional and intellectual development as well." -TDSHS

One more thing. You can’t just give us the ability to go outside during advisory and call it day. Sorry, but it’s not the same. Lots of kids use advisory to get homework done. We need this separate time to play.

This is what I propose:

15-30 minutes recess outside in the courtyard, football field, etc after, or even during lunch.