Making a trip to the nurse’s office is a common thing at most high schools and Manhattan High is no exception.

Whether it is for headaches or the flu, over 60 students visit the nurse’s office daily, making that 13,000 visits each year. More than 21 medications are given out daily.

“If I feel like a kid is well enough to be at school then that’s what I try to encourage them to do,” MHS nurse Robin Smith said. “I would rather a kid rest for an hour and stay the rest of the day than to just text their parents and go home.”

Something that students may not know is that MHS communicates with the Riley County Health Department to keep track of conditions that students visit the nurse’s office for and why parents call students in sick. This helps the health department monitor the diseases in the community.

There will also be an immunization clinic available at central enrollment late in the summer.