By Dino Perusko ’24

On February 2nd and 3rd, Wyoming Seminary’s students and parents had a chance to attend presentations about pressure and healthy ways to deal with pressure by a leader in positive youth development, Dr. Chris Thurber.

Thurber, a graduate of Harvard University and UCLA, has worked as a psychologist and instructor at Phillips Exeter Academy since 1999. He has helped young adults in dealing with a wide range of problems that are in his clinical interest, such as depression, anxiety, sexuality, homesickness, attention deficits, substance use, and interpersonal conflict.

In his professional work, he also focuses on the ways in which parents can contribute to their children’s well-being and the amount of pressure that their children are dealing with. In his book The Unlikely Art of Parental Pressure,which he recently published together with Dr. Hendrix Weisinger, he reveals eight transformations that loving caregivers can make to raise healthy, happy, high-functioning children, asking the critical question of what is the right kind of pressure to put on kids. 

During his student presentation held on Friday, February 2, in SLRC, Dr. Thurber helped students determine different kinds of pressures that they experience in their everyday lives and their sources. Whether that is academic pressure of standing out and doing something for your school community or college process, athletic pressure in sports, financial pressure, or social pressure from your peers, Dr. Thurber discussed and provided some helpful ways in how we can cope with and avoid pressure, and prevent it from having a negative impact on our mental health.

Thurber also encouraged students to talk with their parents, who had a chance to listen to his presentation  about The Parental Pressure Paradox the night before, about the amount and the kind of pressure that they are receiving from them.  All the attendants enjoyed an hour-long presentation, engaging in conversation and discussion with Thurber before, during, and even after the presentation. Sem’s student body expressed positive feedback and gratitude to host Dr. Christopher Thurber on campus, with hopes that there will be more of these types of events happening in the future.