Once a school year, ACE dedicates the school day to nurturing students’ mental health needs. They achieve this by having classroom sessions surrounding different topics — ones which students chose themselves in the pre-wellness day survey.

This year’s Wellness Day took place on April 26th. The day began with all students in their small guidance rooms collecting their schedules for Wellness Day. After a couple of minutes, the students then scattered to their classes.

I interviewed a couple of students that attended that day, beginning with Angelina Acevedo. I began with the question, “Did you participate in setting up?”. “No,” said Angie, explaining that it was mostly the teachers who set up the Wellness activities and schedule. Following her response, I asked how the classes were divided. Angie’s response was, “Students were able to pick workshops in guidance and then we went to guidance, [the teachers] gave us and paper and told us where to go.”

The classes were divided into groups of different topics such as Yoga & Mindfulness, Where’s the line, Do it Sobah, Boxing, Guide to Self Care, Empathy matters, and Digital Generation. These were all the sessions that were held on Wellness Day. 

The next student that I interviewed was Savannah Coscarella. Upon asking if she had a least favorite activity, she shook her head.  “I didn’t really have the least favorite. I didn’t enjoy it that much, though.”   These are some other student opinions on Wellness Day. In Savannah’s eyes, it was mediocre.

Even with different opinions and views on how Wellness Day went, at the end of the day the intention to prepare for this day is very much appreciated.