CVHS participated in a wellness week spirit week in order to prepare for upcoming final exams. Throughout the week, fun activities and spirit days happened!
With upcoming final exams and state testing it’s important for students to remember that their mental and emotional wellness is just as important as their studies – if not more. The National Institute of Health reported that out of 200 students, 151 of them felt more stress than normal during exam seasons and “the majority of the students didn’t receive any professional help to combat their mental health problems or any professional counseling to improve their morale.” Not only is this terrible mentally and physically, as excess stress can cause “headaches, fatigue and sleep problems” according to the Mayo Clinic, it can also cause lowered test scores.
Alan Foley, a postdoctoral fellow in psychology, says that “Math anxiety is disrupting these students’ ability to fulfill their potential,” but its not just math. For many students it can be any and all subjects that cause stress around testing and thus end up lowering their scores. This is the purpose of wellness week. By making the school more fun, through pep rallies and popsicles, and more calm, with llamas and therapy dogs, the stress of exams is hoped to be lowered.
Other ways to reduce stress during testing season is taking deep breaths, getting good rest (or at least trying when difficult) and talking to a trusted friend, teacher or counselor.
On Monday we had a pep rally, which was great at getting students excited and distracting from stress. Tuesday featured baby goats and llamas, which, like other fluffy animals, are shown to “decrease levels of cortisol (a stress-related hormone) and lower blood pressure” according to the National Institute of Health. On Wednesday, across the school, ROAR fairs were had with snacks, games, movies, a talent show, and friends! Thursday featured service dogs who could be trained to help humans who are feeling stressed. Finally Friday had popsicles and PJs, a cool way to de-stress with friends!
