The week following homecoming, wellness labs became available to all students during Academic Lab time, ranging from taking a walk outside to making bracelets and fidgets.
Principal Dr. Emily McCown said that in past years they had days where students would participate in activities and decided that as they brought it back, it would become an option and not a requirement.
“We’ve held Wellness Days in the past where the whole school participated in activities in the afternoon. Those days got some mixed reviews from our students so we decided to offer an opt-in format using our Ac Lab time. Students who wanted to participate could sign up during their Ac Lab sessions,” McCown said.
Language Arts teacher Emily Cissi hosted a beginners yoga lab and she said she is happy with the outcome and is already planning for the future.
“I think the labs went really well, and I’m excited to host some more intermediate yoga in the future. I hosted basic beginner classes this time, and students were able to follow along with ease,” she said.
Assistant principal Sarah Goodman said that based on her observations she thinks that students liked the labs and thought that students and staff both had a good time.
“We didn’t have students complete any type of exit survey, so I’m basing this off what I observed and heard when I stopped in sessions. Each Wellness Lab seemed to be enjoyed by both our staff members who graciously planned and hosted these sessions and our students who attended them. I talked to lots of students when I stopped in and heard positive feedback about their participation,” Goodman said.
Sophomore Leila Miller went to two different labs on the first day they were available and said she enjoyed getting to do the activities and hanging out.
“I went to Hohlt’s first session to make stress balls, and Perone’s second session to make Taylor Swift bracelets. [They] both did a great job leading the lab and they were both very helpful. I liked how Ms. Hohlt had different options for how we could customize them. And Mrs. Perone’s room was also a lot of fun. I was able to hang out with my friends and make bracelets, it was a big stress reliever in the middle of the day,” Miller said.