Academy Hosts Winter Wellness Activities
By Casper Bailey, Lucy Reading, and Andrew Yuan
As the end of winter term approaches, Academy students have noticed an increase in stress around campus. Student clubs and organizations have hosted wellness events to alleviate stress caused by the intensified workload and finals schedule.
Recently, some students have found that they are substantially more stressed than they usually are. Prep Patrick Snyder noted the social interaction of students around him. “Some people have become asocial and secluded themselves from society. One of them being myself, generally my stress levels seem to fluctuate with my homework,” he said.
Senior Vincent Xiao agreed. “I think as we transition to the later half of the term students are certainly becoming more worn out, and with incoming major assignments, I do notice an increase in stress levels around campus. I am taking harder courses this term so I’m spending more time and effort on them, which does contribute to higher stress levels,” he said.
In order to mitigate the rise in stress levels, Health’s Angels, a student-led club to educate peers on a variety of health issues and promote positive health behaviors, has organized several de-stressing activities throughout winter term. Club leaders hope to see a decrease in stress, and to see the events spread positivity as well as awareness about Health’s Angels and its goals.
The club, working alongside Counseling and Psychological Services and Health Education instructors, has previously hosted a Mandela coloring event at Elizabeth Phillips Academy Center, a cocoa kit and bookmark launch party, a night fitness event with Health Education Instructor Brandon Thomas, and a nature walk with Science Instructor Andrew McTammany.
A lot of thought and planning went into the winter wellness events. “Some events were already planned, like the perfectionism lecture Dr. Thurber had organized. Health’s Angels came up with other ideas like the tabling event for healthy relationships and the upcoming digital detox day,” Health Education Instructor Elizabeth Soucy said. “We all worked together to brainstorm ideas and some are still coming! Friday night fitness activities were an idea that came up organically and Mr. Thomas jumped in to organize that.”
The events are designed to help students take a break from school and try something new. “The original idea was for a winter birding walk. By February, most of the species had migrated south, so we switched it to a nature walk,” McTammany said. “The goal is to create opportunities for students to rebalance during winter term, which is fairly important. I hope that this becomes a yearly event. At the very least, I hope it gets students out of their routine and involved in a new experience.”
Lower and member of Health’s Angels Elizabeth Catizone further explained the goals of the program: “A lot of the events are really quick events that you can just stop in on, like the hot chocolate event,” she said. “It’s a quick table event where you can drop in and we hope that students understand that if they want to read the brochures, find resources, then they can do that. They’re quick events to spread some awareness and positivity.”
Members of Health’s Angels have high hopes as to where this club can go in the Exeter community. Upper and club member Gwen Serrano commented on the personal contribution of Health’s Angel on her: “The club could function as a reminders app on my phone to remember to check in on myself and do things that actually make me happy as well as taking a break from all the work you have to do here as an Exonian,” she said.
Catizone shared her thoughts on students’ engagement in mental health activities.“I liked the coloring competition that we did,” she added.” Because I was a little cynical, it’s high school, is anyone really going to color? But so many people actually participated and I remember the winning team finished theirs within the department meeting block. It was really fun.”
Student Council Mental Health Committee has also been meeting since last summer to promote positive changes in students’ mental health with events and activities.
Senior and Student Council Mental Health Committee Co-Head Maxine Park explained the planning process for its upcoming mental health activities: “We met over the summer with the class representatives from each year ago to brainstorm some ideas and get a better sense for what students from different grades need,” she said. “One idea that was really awesome was to hold an event where people could choose some small plants to brighten up their rooms so we decided to go with this one!”
Lower and Mental Health Committee member Atishay Jain agreed. “Collaboration is key in an event like this. Working together on the Mental Health Committee to plan an event which has the potential to bring the entire Exeter community together is truly something that means a lot to me. Specifically, for this event, when I think of decorating plants, it’s just therapeutic and something you can do with your friends in a chill way.”
Park hopes that the small changes brought by the project can create positive changes on mental health of community members. “It’s a pretty small change to just add a plant to your room. But I think one of the things we’ve seen this past year is that these small moments of comfort really do matter— whether it’s taking a moment to have a conversation with a friend, go on a walk, etc.—small changes accumulate and can have a really meaningful impact on our outlook and happiness in the long run,” Park continued.
Park shared her hopes for the future mental health committee as Student Council expects its turnover: “It would be awesome to see future MHC boards investing in student events like these,” Park said. “Whether it’s something like plants or our Word of Encouragement initiative last year, it’s about making mental health conversation & support[ing] part of our culture. Small events like these help shift that culture, little by little, into something where students feel like they have a place to be supported and relax when they need it!”
