Manifesting

Good grades, exciting dates, and dream jobs are all examples of what Gen Z has been “manifesting,” or turning into a reality. Largely practiced during the New Thought movement in the 19th century, manifestation is the practice of making goals tangible through affirmations and belief. Though the practice of manifestation is neither novel nor obscure, it has become widespread in use amongst Gen Z and millennials post-pandemic as a method of self-improvement.

With the popularity of the term manifest now reaching its peak, social media platforms have become a hotspot for prospective manifestors and spiritual users to gather. The tag #manifesting on the popular social media platform Tiktok has 26.3 billion views, with the videos under the tag largely consisting of a mixture of tips and tricks on how to bring dreams to fruition, numbers that bring good luck, and positive affirmations.

“I think some people think that manifesting is a scary word, but it isn’t,” sophomore Hannah Eapen said. “ It’s just about believing in yourself so you can become the person you want to be.”

Eapen has noticed a rise in popularity surrounding manifesting among Northview’s students. She notes that the practice is mainly prevalent on social media platforms and recognizes the impact it has on youths.

“Through social media, books, podcasts, and even TED Talks -manifesting has spread to people our age,” Eapen said. Eapen started manifesting in the summer of 2022 to get out of an unmotivated funk; since then, she has noticed a difference in her mood and motivation. Eapen mainly manifests through journaling desires, positive affirmations, and Pinterest boards.

Similar to Eapen, Junior Dani Haden often journals their dreams and goals and has also observed a rise in popularity of manifesting in practice.”

Nain practices another popular form of manifesting: verbal affirmations. He does this by assuring himself he will get a good grade on a test or that he will make the tennis team. But simply stating what one wants does not guarantee that desire will come to fruition; Nain brings up the risks of creating goals without commitment to pursue them.

“I think some people say what they want and goals they want to achieve but don’t actively work toward them,” Nain said.“There can’t be that separation between them; you won’t get anything done.”

Northview’s student body.

“I think our generation is getting more into spirituality,” Haden said. “You see more people wearing crystals and such.”

Haden considers themself a spiritual person who is passionate about astrology and crystals and thus manifests as an extension of their interest in spirituality. However, manifestation is a spectrum, and people follow this practice for a plethora of reasons.

“I was first introduced to manifesting by my mother, who is a big believer in astrology,” junior Viraj Nain said. “I don’t believe in astrology, but I like manifesting- it’s a good

Eapen believes that there is a lot of power in verbal declarations. She often listens to Trinity Tondelier’s podcast: The Wellness Cafe, to learn more about the power of manifestation. Tonderlier states that words have a lot of power, and if one speaks good, good will happen.

“A lot of it has to do with the Law of Attraction,” Eapen said. “Through verbal confirmation, you can attract opposite feelings. For example, if you are sad, you can say, ‘I attract positivity and happiness.’”

Whether it is through writing, verbal declarations, vision boards, or Pinterest boards, manifesting has reached many people in Gen Z and through it, people have found inspiration and happiness in their life. As manifesting podcaster Trinity Tondelier sums it up: “A negative mind will never give you a positive life.”

To Resume Land

How students play for the perfect resume

ELIZABETH LEFFEW, STAFF WRITER

KEVIN XIANG, COPY/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR

DESIGN: SYDNEY MULFORD, FEATURES EDITOR

MEGAN SERFONTEIN, COPY/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR

For students at Northview, college steadily encroaches on their lives as their high school years count down to an eventual frenzy of applications. Thus, when the time comes to for them decide what to do with their four years in high school, the desire to fill out the Common App activities section with eye-catching content overwhelms them. That is when students start playing the resume-chasing game; sometimes it takes the form of a part-time job, sometimes an accomplishment, but most of the time, resume-chasing manifests through students participating in extracurricular activities such as clubs, sports teams, or higher-level classes. Though many consider such behavior to be a double-edged sword, Northview students willingly partake in resume-chasing in order to present their idealized selves to higher institutions, even at the risk of missing out on key aspects of their high school experience.

Northview boasts a plethora of clubs that foster environments for altruists and resume chasers alike. To some, these clubs serve as a medium through which they can serve their community, and to others, they are devices that will bolster their resumes. For Northview Principal Martin Neuhaus, clubs are a valuable opportunity for Northview students to showcase their passions for certain subjects and explore their hobbies.

“Extracurriculars are chances to share your passion and learn some stuff and also learn what not to do,” Principal Martin Neuhaus said. “It really shows more of who you are than just a grade.”

Currently at Northview, there are over a hundred academic clubs, honor societies, and general clubs, as well as over forty sports teams. Schools work to inform students of the impact extracurriculars and achievements can have on the likelihood of being accepted into a school. That can push students into joining activities without the intent to explore these opportunities.

“Doing extracurriculars solely for looking good on a resume takes away the point of having fun clubs or doing community service out of actual kindness and teaches people that these things should only be done for ac- ademic reasons,” junior Gavin Valentino said. futurehealthprofessionals

And with each club, team, society, and council comes new opportunities, and thus, pressure for students to earn more titles. With society placing a strong emphasis on getting accepted into a quality college, it pressures students into adding multiple high-ranking positions to their plate for the sake of maintaining their image.

“When it comes to officer positions, it sometimes can feel like people just run and get elected for the sake of their resume, which honestly just takes the fun out of the whole reason for these honor societies and clubs in the first place,” junior Ally Anteau said.

Becoming a club president comes with many benefits: learning new skills, networking, and improving work ethic. But when students only do it for a resume, many times it may only add stress or takes away personal time.

“Colleges like [leadership positions], but extracurriculars are the one part of the school day that isn’t based solely on academics, and that lets you exercise other aspects of yourself and your hobbies,” Anteau said.

Resume-chasing and the stress that accompanies are a result of the pressure to take more rigorous classes that students may not be able to handle. Zone Superintendent and former Northview Principal Brian Downey has seen this many times with students asking to be put into higher classes than their past grades allow, much to the detriment of their learning experience.

“When that kid goes into that [higher-level] class over there, and they then struggle, that’s hard,” Downey said. “Because we stated as clearly as possible, it’s not gonna be the right place.”

In addition, students often neglect the benefits of signing up for more advanced classes due to the unhealthy resume-chasing culture in schools. Instead of taking classes that they find interesting, students add work that they may never use later in life, solely for the sake of college acceptance. This often proves to be counterproductive, as many of these rigorous classes are not even related to students’ interests or intended majors.

“It is a mistake for our kids to take that think it’s going to help them except for adding something to the resume,” Downey said.

Furthermore, when kids take classes above their level, teachers have to work more to ensure they succeed.

“There’s an extra stressor on the teacher because it’s an increased workload,” Downey said. “They [have] to do something extra, different, or more for that kid.”

Brian Downey

class that they’re not interested in, that they don’t see value in, and that they don’t than the Korean system, which is mostly based on a single standardized test. She found herself joining Science Olympiad at the urging of upperclassmen and her parents in order to showcase her involvement in extracurricular activities.

In many cases, much of the pressure to pursue these activities come from parents. Many parents emphasize getting into good colleges and push their kids to pursue activities that they think will increase their child’s chances of attending a prestigious university.

“My parents say ‘you’re Korean so you’ve got to get into a super, really good college,’” freshman Nahyeon Kim, who moved from South Korea, said.

Students are not the only individuals feeling stress or pressure when it comes to resumes; schools and teachers are also affected by this. Students often ask teachers for recommendations. Teachers usually find five or six students asking for recommendations at the same time and for different reasons or subjects. Adding onto the stress of teaching, grading, and planning, teachers, more often than not, have to take their personal time to write these recommendations and make any changes afterward.

Students often want teachers to write about one specific accomplishment instead of their actual capability in the subject. That captures the essence of the resume-chasing problem.

“This behavior has created an almost-fabricated form of altruism, one that exists purely on the surface level to appear nice,” junior Isabella Zhang said. “I think for teachers it’s annoying because they’re seeing the incoming gen-