Mitchell is 17 and in his final year of high school and plans to attend university next year. Mitchell desperately wants to attend an Ivy League university and is working non-stop to achieve this goal.
He has loaded up his course work this year with several Advance Placement classes, has a part-time job at a doctor’s office, volunteers at the animal shelter, is president of the student council, and is a peer tutor. By the time he sits down to start his homework it is often after 9pm and many nights he does not stop until after 2 am. There have even been a few nights when he has fallen asleep at his desk trying to get his essay perfect, and he has even nodded off a few times in class. His friends have noticed that Mitchell is irritable and angry most of the time, but when they try to distract him or ask him to hang out he blows them off. Mitchell knows he cannot stop now. He thinks constantly about his future, and is terrified what will happen if he does not get in to his top choice. He does not want to be seen as a failure, but this is his deepest fear. As a result, he tries hard to hide this from others, appearing as a hardworking, bright, polite young man to his employers, teachers, and even his parents, none of whom know just how afraid and unhappy he is.