Mendon-Upton Regional School District

MENDON — Superintendent Maureen Cohen and Nipmuc School Counselors are pleased to share that Nipmuc Regional High School hosted a successful Wellness Week to increase awareness of wellness practices. 

For the week of April 8-12, the counseling center hosted daily events to educate all students at Nipmuc Regional High School on wellness, promoting healthy lifestyles, and learning ways to cope with and decrease stress. 

“Wellness Week was a great opportunity for students to learn some healthy coping mechanisms and ways to destress while also having fun,” Superintendent Cohen said. “The counseling center did a wonderful job of organizing the week and making sure the students had resources and informative activities as well as offering plenty of options to relax with their peers.”

During the week students listened to a talk from Wes, a speaker from Minding Your Mind, a nonprofit mental health education foundation that aims to provide mental health education to adolescents. As a part of the nonprofit’s “Changing Minds: Stories Over Stigma”program, Wes spoke about his personal struggle with anxiety and how he now accepts and manages it. 

Students could choose from a number of advisory activities, including backyard games, board games, card games, de-stressing with music, free writing, friendship bracelet making, making holiday cards for a senior center, creating decorative signs for the school’s hope garden, loving-kindness meditation, ping-pong, puzzles, reading, coloring, karaoke, spending time with therapy dogs, playing video games, volleyball and pickle-ball, walking meditation, weightlifting and yoga.

At the end of the week students enjoyed a therapy animal petting zoo provided by Animal Craze out of Winchendon, MA that included goats, piglets, bunnies, chicks, and ducks.

“Our goal throughout this week was to emphasize the importance of mental health and help students to discover wellness practices that work for them,” School Counselor Hefez said. “We hope that the students enjoyed the programs and learned a few wellness habits along the way.”