A study of over 5,000 students in 13 high-achieving public and private middle and high schools in the United States found evidence of disengagement and poor physical and mental health. The students in the study were exhausted, many getting significantly less than the recommended nine hours of sleep each night. More than 70% of the high school students reported that they felt often or always stressed by their schoolwork, and many admitted to taking illegal stimulants to stay awake to study and complete the lengthy homework assignments each night. Students said that they wished their school experiences could be different, but they felt powerless. Some students dealt with this pressure by "opting out"--choosing not to do the work or only doing the absolute minimum necessary. Others became, in their words, "zombies"--memorizing and then "spitting back" large chunks of information without taking time to reflect or think critically about the content. An initiative, named Challenge Success, works with schools to design and implement site-based policies and practices that reduce student stress and promote greater student engagement, academic integrity, and physical and mental health. Over the past six years of the initiative, schools make many positive changes to reduce student stress and increase engagement. If success means healthy, engaged, thriving students who can think critically, creatively, and collaboratively, then schools turn their attention to the components described in this article in order to help yield these results. (Contains 2 notes.)