Prior to the pandemic, conversations about student wellbeing were commonplace on Mount Ida. Since the upheaval, these conversations have become even more critical to adjusting our minds and practices to make sure that the Emma community is supported and thriving. Lingering questions and uncertainty echo in our minds related to what the days ahead will bring; most certainly, these questions are top of mind among those tasked with caring for the community’s wellbeing. 

As we began the 2022-2023 school year, student Wellness Advocates—Wellies—and their adult counterparts in the Health Center, Counseling Center, and Student Life paused to reflect on the current state of wellness on campus: How are students feeling about their own wellness and the start of the new year? What is the impact of COVID for us this year, right now, and moving forward? What is the true state of student wellness at Emma Willard School? What can be done to support and improve it?

 

WELLNESS FIRST

When the Wellies greeted their classmates during Opening Week, they wore sky blue shirts with “Wellness First” emblazoned on the back. Knowing these first moments of a new school year can be laden with anxiety and uncertainty, the Wellies aimed to put their peers at ease. 

Throughout the year, Wellies make it their business to promote personal wellbeing, educate the community on how to best care for oneself, and offer opportunities to do just that. They also have their fingers on the pulse of the student body. This year, they’re noticing a few key areas where student wellbeing is challenged: dealing with change, finding the time to do and be and accomplish all that they want to, and handling the physical impact of the current COVID variants.

 

THE CHALLENGES

CHANGE

The first stressor noted among the Wellies was the sheer number of things that are perceived as changing this school year: A new schedule (which has been different every year since they began their Emma experience), new faces among the faculty (both in classrooms and in the dorms), and a return to pre-pandemic rules (some of which were relaxed during the strain of dealing with COVID, including no phones in the dining hall, no phones while walking through inner campus, and sticking to the dress code).

“Any change, regardless of whether it’s about school, changes how you take care of yourself,” the Wellies explain. What adults in the community may perceive as “a return to normal,” for students represents a series of changes, which they then search for ways to cope with, alongside all of the other newness of classes, making friends, and participating in extracurricular activities. Some changes are more appealing than others, yet any alteration can cause increased anxiety, and each person deals with change in a different way. 

“Even the weather impacts the mood of the campus,” the Wellies observe, while looking out the window on a dreary day. “Stepping out of the ‘COVID nature’ of campus is certainly exciting, but it also takes a lot of courage and adjustment—stepping out of the comfort zone that COVID created for us in one way or another.”

 

TIME & ACHIEVEMENT

The current generation of students at Emma is keenly aware of conversations about balance, wellbeing, and taking time for yourself. But the problem is just that: time. Students feel pressure to make the most of the time they have. They will never get to relive the Emma experience, so they are anxious to squeeze every possible experience into these four (for some, less than four) years on Mount Ida.

“Time is limited… it's so limited,” one Wellie shares. “Last night I was playing with my schedule and from eight to six, I couldn't do anything except schoolwork. Outside of those times I still have to take time to do homework. And then there are some friends that want to hang out with me and do other projects together…if they all come at the same time, what should I do? That stresses me out. I don't know how to say no to them. I would just have to rotate—I could hang out with you tonight, if you want to hang out alone, then tomorrow I'll probably do another art project with another person if you want to join us. I just don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. Time is my greatest enemy.”

“We don’t prioritize wellness enough because academic success and success overall seems to be more prioritized, more prevalent, and more relevant in society,” the Wellies explain. Because students are looking at the apparent priorities of the world around them, it can seem less important to focus on good mental and physical health.

“We all made a decision to come to Emma. By choosing that, we also now have the responsibility of all the things that come with that,” the Wellies acknowledge. “Lots of people want to go above and beyond because we are all good students…because you decided to come to Emma and you decided to have a rigorous schedule or rigorous classes.” While adults may try to help by giving them guidelines—for example: don't spend more than 45 minutes on this homework assignment—they still feel a responsibility to complete that homework, because if they don’t, they will feel unprepared in class.

Anxiety around achievements related to the college search also has a huge impact on wellbeing for juniors and seniors. “The uncertainty in the whole process gives us a lot of anxiety,” the Wellies point out. “It’s difficult to ask for support from others when you’re all going through this thing individually. There’s also a lot of competition among students related to this process.” Setting aside dedicated time to fully research their college options and dealing with the struggle of meeting college application deadlines makes it that much harder to dedicate time to take care of themselves.

 

PHYSICAL WELLNESS

While attempting to step out from under the mental impact of COVID, the Wellies find that many in the student community are still dealing with the actual disease itself. Their physical wellbeing is still greatly influenced by the constancy of the virus. Whether they have recently recovered or are currently experiencing a COVID diagnosis, students are enduring physical health challenges alongside their daily workload.

Director of Nursing Jen Bliss has observed a general lack of care for one’s own general wellbeing resulting in illness. “What ends up happening is we have kids who are catching every cold—not even necessarily COVID. I ask them to tell me about their sleep schedule, how they’re eating. The great thing is we have some kids who come back saying, ‘I started sleeping and going to bed and I made sure I ate’—they stopped getting sick, felt better, and didn't have the constant headaches.” Overlooking the basics of sleep, food, and hydration is working against everything students are trying to achieve.

 

MEETING THE CHALLENGES

As the Wellies work alongside adults in the community to improve the sense of wellbeing at Emma, they are promoting practices they have found helpful for their own wellbeing.

PRACTICING BALANCE

An oft-used phrase on Mount Ida is “balancing rigor and wellbeing”—a seemingly elusive goal. Director of READY Programs Evangeline Delgado finds herself searching for a better word to use than balance, explaining, “I don't think there is a balance, in the sense that everything you’re juggling is equal at one time—at the same time. What we’re striving for is more like a practice of rigor and wellbeing, developing the skills to negotiate situations where one priority must take precedence over the next.”

The Wellies find it helpful to develop a practice of focusing on the balance between school work, time for friends, and time for yourself. One of Evangline’s favorite activities with students utilizes a wellness wheel, which divides aspects of wellbeing into wedges of emotional, social, physical, intellectual, occupational, environmental, spiritual, mental, and financial considerations. They rate each aspect of wellbeing between one and 10, typically finding that some are lower, some are higher. “People can look at that visual practice and recognize that something's out of alignment,” Evangeline explains. “When you put that in context of what time you have in your day, you can focus on what's realistic to change.” For example, if you focused on bringing your occupational wellbeing up to 10, would you still be able to maintain your awesome social relationships in the same way? “I think a wonky wheel is fine sometimes,” Evangeline laughs. “Like the juggling of objects, sometimes they fall and you just have to pick them back up.”

The Wellies stress that finding time for this type of self-reflection and appreciating the work they’ve achieved is key to energizing themselves to keep moving forward. They are starting to learn some useful skills in READY seminars. “The first time I heard about setting boundaries was in a READY seminar,” one student shares. “I think there's a lot more for me to learn about saying no to people and setting boundaries to help make myself well.”

READY is also helping alleviate some of the strain of college preparation for seniors. As a part of their READY seminar curriculum, seniors now have 70 minutes each week set aside to work with their college counselor.

A CHANGE OF SCENERY

“I live on campus, which is a constant reminder of academic work and the path to success,” another Wellie shares. “Changing my environment—leaving campus completely—helps me leave that pressure for a while.” 

Taking advantage of opportunities to relax or step outside the academic environment, even if they remain on campus, is vital to students’ sense of wellbeing. “We go sing songs together in Lyon-Remington, or I go find a book in the library with my friends,” another Wellie explains. “It's about how to maneuver within your environment and find your place in this academic environment while still enjoying what you're doing.”

Among Emma’s new staff members this year are Director of Student and Community Life Emily Carton and Student Activities Coordinator Mariah Sanford-White '97. One of the key areas of improvement they are focused on is creating more dynamic and engaging weekend activities. “There's definitely room for more robust programming on the weekends, even on campus, as we rebuild our weekend activities program coming out of the pandemic,” Emily recognizes. “So thinking of ways that we can help students embrace joy as part of a healthy lifestyle is something I'm excited to do.” 

RELATIONSHIPS

A common theme between students and adults alike is the importance of developing and prioritizing quality relationships. The Wellies share that connections with their friends and classmates do wonders in bolstering their sense of wellbeing. Even in a moment as simple as getting a reprieve from a dreaded quiz, they find comfort in being able to exchange a knowing smile with a peer from across the room. 

Beyond their peer connections, the Wellies note that having relationships with faculty outside of the classroom is a source of encouragement. “What makes me feel great is when teachers are interested in me and my origin,” one shares. “They want to know how I am doing, not just as a student, but as a part of the community, as another person here.” That sense of belonging that comes with being truly known is key to everyone’s wellbeing.

Dean of Students Shelley Maher notes that one of her goals with student interactions is that they see the adults as whole people who can have fun (and, yes, be serious at times). “We can actually be like teenagers, and adults can have fun,” Shelley laughs. “Adults actively participating in student activities sometimes means more than you realize. At the end-of-year party, a couple of kids said, ‘Ms. Maher, can you go and get Ms. Rao and Dr. Legg onto the dance floor?’ When they invite adults to have fun with them, adults can do our part by saying yes and participating in the community alongside our students.”

KNOW YOUR RESOURCES

Wellies encourage their peers to get to know the resources that are available to them and learn what works best for their needs. “We want to remind the community to check in with themselves throughout the year,” the Wellies share. “Find self-care routines or habits that make us feel better and understand our own needs, whether physical or emotional—what we need nutrition-wise, how to feed our mind, find time and energy to do things that make us happy.”

They note that there are resources in the form of counselors, nurses, advisors, and faculty that are available for support. For mental health, that support is managed by Director of Counseling Jamie Murray. In her second year at Emma, she reflects, “I think we are prepared in a way that we didn't have the knowledge to be prepared [before COVID].” While counselors are trained professionally and clinically to manage the different kinds of things that students are struggling with, they learned much from last year’s experiences. “I'm really thankful for the school’s responsiveness in hiring a third full-time [counseling] staff person and adding nursing staff. We also have an intern joining us this year. Our counseling department feels prepared and at ease to navigate our way through this school year.”

Emily notes that a new addition to the support tools for students this year is a Wellness Day they can take at their own discretion. “Students can now choose a day—no questions asked—one time each semester and say, ‘I just need this day to myself.’” Emily explains. The Wellies note this Wellness Day as a welcome addition that will help with students’ feeling of wellbeing and relieve some of the pressure from the constant demand for more time.

The Wellies themselves are planning programming for the year that they hope will help make wellness a priority. Their plans include a session in the gym learning how to use the exercise equipment, a training on first aid and responding to emergencies, a community art project creating a collage of positivity, and a dance workshop to help improve self-confidence through movement.

The state of student wellbeing on Mount Ida is much like other places and spaces in our society: a mixed bag. There are stressors, for sure. Change and uncertainty are ubiquitous, and create additional anxiety on top of the rigors of academic life. The pandemic lingers, both physically and in our understanding of what it takes to maintain mental health. Yet, our resources are many, and our commitment to the health of the community remains strong. Together, we are learning to practice balance, strengthen ourselves physically and emotionally, and find joy in the journey together.

 

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READY: How to Human

The unique curriculum of the READY program hinges on providing space for students to practice the skills of wellbeing. As a pilot program in the ninth grade starting fall 2020, the READY program sought to help students develop the skills necessary to take advantage of the learning that follows in subsequent years. READY proved an essential connection point for students during the first full pandemic school year, although the zoom screen with 75-100 kids made for particular challenges. With a plan to extend READY throughout the full four years of a student’s Emma experience, Director of READY Programs Evangeline Delgado knew that the program would need restructuring to make it a true source of support to the students. 

The classes now span all four years, and are structured with small groups which allow deep connections between students and their instructors. The expansion of the program allows important conversations that were once occurring within the residential life program to extend to all students, both day and boarding. 

This year, the curriculum looks markedly different than last. “One of the most joyful things in my life is that I have an incredible group of adults now who help support READY,” Evangeline shares. Among those who will guide the READY program sessions are Athletic Director Liz Parry, Dean of Students Shelley Maher, Director of Student and Community Life Emily Carton, and all of the house parents. “Every one of us will have a classroom of students who we get to work with—nine to 18 students in each class all year. So we have that small group to develop relationships with. They get to know us, they get to know each other and build trust, communication skills, and have a healthy exchange of ideas,” Evangeline explains.

“What I hope is that READY will allow students to be active participants in their wellbeing and find their own balance with the academic experience that they have here,” Evangeline continues. “The READY curriculum is all about being fully human. To me it is essentially a class on ‘how to human.’ Part of that is being a student when you're at Emma. Part of that is being a friend. Part of it is being a child to your parents. It’s questioning the greater world and institutions. When we engage in these conversations, we explore the richest things about ourselves and other people.”

From a new staff member’s perspective, Emily Carton is impressed with the way the READY curriculum is designed. “I think it’s a really healthy way of looking at things,” she enthuses. “It's unique in that it has integrated health and wellness and metacognition and goal setting and leadership development and DEIJB work (diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, belonging). It's everything together, which is really unusual and feels really natural.”

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