Davis High has always been an environment where education and student well-being coexist in the same realm of emphasis and primacy. Although student safety is highly ranked in priority, recent events have displayed an uncommonly high demand for emergency medical attention for students suffering from seizures, fainting spells, and other afflictions during class hours.

“At Davis High School because we have such a high student population, we are bound to have different accidents and injuries that occur at school” Assistant Principal Mr. Chapple said.

Among these many conditions, the most common reason for medical visits at the school has particularly been attributed to bursts of unexpected seizures within the student population. Although the sources of this unusual outbreak remain unknown, according to the Epilepsy Foundation, some of the most frequent causes of unexpected seizures can be linked to sleep deprivation, stress, and any other pre existing conditions.

“Any number of things can trigger a pre existing condition but I don’t think that anything at Davis High has contributed to any of these visits from ambulances or medical professionals” Chapple said.

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that may cause recurrent episodes of convulsions and loss of consciousness due to abnormal electrical activity in the brain. Although this condition may vary in severity, there are more than 200,000 cases in the United States every year. Most people who have Epilepsy are diagnosed at a young age, however, there are many who remain undiagnosed and who may have only experienced 1-2 seizures in their lifetime.

“We’ve talked a lot as teachers about the seizures and that it feels like there has been so much more than we have ever seen” Math Teacher, Ms. Meade said.

Although most epileptic patients are aware of their condition, there often is no telling when a seizure will erupt. This may explain the large amounts of student seizures occurring unexpectedly on school property. Although there are currently no treatments to cure epilepsy, certain medications such as sedatives and anticonvulsants are known to ease episode recurrence and severity and also help patients have more control over the time and place of their seizures.

“It’s just crazy because it has never been like this before at Davis High” Meade said.