Emma Lee ate lunch alone in an orchestra practice room, catching up on sleep she'd lost to homework the night before.
The Salem High School senior told Planet Detroit in a student-reported feature that balancing coursework, extracurriculars and the college application process pushed her mental health to a breaking point. "During my sophomore year, I would eat alone in an orchestra practice room (and) catch up on sleep because I would stay up pretty late to do school work," Lee said.
Michigan's OK2SAY student safety program received 1,816 tips related to anxiety, stress and depression in 2025, making mental health the program's top concern category for the first time. The program logged 10,777 total tips that year, its second-highest volume ever.
Lee said she has gotten more used to seeing peers at Plymouth-Canton Educational Park with GPAs above 4.0, common among students taking Advanced Placement courses that can boost a weighted GPA by a full point. Statewide, a record 65,898 Michigan public school students took an AP exam in 2025, up 4.5% from the prior year, according to the Michigan Department of Education. The University of Michigan received a record 115,125 undergraduate applications in 2026, a 29% spike over five years.
Charles Starkman, a psychologist and assistant director of Counseling and Psychological Services at the University of Michigan, told Planet Detroit that perfectionism among high-achieving students "goes hand in hand with burnout." He said those students often report headaches, stomach issues and constant fatigue.
What P-CCS offers
Plymouth-Canton Community Schools staffs every building with school psychologists, social workers and counselors, according to the district's mental health page. Federal data from the 2023-24 school year show the district had roughly 41 guidance counselors and eight school psychologists for about 16,000 students, a ratio of roughly 390 students per counselor.
The district's Student and Family Engagement Department provided wraparound services to more than 200 students and families between September 2025 and January 2026, according to a January 2026 school board presentation. Those services include Care Solace care coordination, grief support partnerships, suicide prevention programming and an expanded therapy dog program featuring Charlie, a goldendoodle donated by Priority Health.
P-CCS Psychologist and Mental Health Manager Kathy Grodus was named NAMI Michigan Secondary Educator of the Year in spring 2026 for her work on districtwide mental health initiatives, including the district's annual Mental Health and Wellness Fair. The fifth annual fair drew families to Kellogg Park on April 25.
Back to school
P-CCS students return Monday, Aug. 31, for a half-day start to the 2026-27 school year. As we reported Aug. 13, families must complete the district's online Back to School Check-In by that same date.
The district has not publicly announced new mental health programming for 2026-27 or responded to questions about college admissions stress.
