A class about how to deal with life’s stresses taught in a fun academic way is just what SWR needs. The new elective, Foundations of a Mindful and Healthy Life, will provide these life lessons. It starts in September.

According to the 2019-2020 SWR course book, the class “will provide the opportunity for students to discuss up-to-date and relevant health topics and learn lifetime disease prevention.” The goal is to teach students how to use mindfulness–a state of awareness and attentiveness– when facing circumstances. The objective is to help students live healthy and mindful lives.

Health teacher Mrs. Mary Mitchell, who will be teaching the class, has applied mindfulness in her own life and has attended workshops that target this aspect. “Mindfulness is a technique,” Mrs. Mitchell said, and this elective will present students with the knowledge to learn that technique.

Mrs. Mitchell is now applying everything she learned after attending workshops into developing the new elective .“I just went with it,” she said.

“This class teaches real-life skills used for the rest of their lives,” Mrs. Mitchell said.

Foundations of a Mindful and Healthy Life gives students information that will help them build a skillset to assist them with handling everyday life situations.  Through this course, Mrs. Mitchell will offer information students can use to target and tackle future obstacles in their lives in a mindful way.

“It will help build skills to be a successful, healthy person in the future,” Mrs. Mitchell said.

The course book notes that the class will “give students the opportunity to construct lifetime wellness plans which include relationships, healthy eating, and time and stress management.”

Mrs. Mitchell said she will teach lessons such as how to develop resilience skills, core mindfulness skills, and the ability to enjoy the transition into being in charge of everyday life. For example, she will offer advice about how to handle the transition into college.

Mrs. Mitchell said the classroom environment will be “fun, relatable, and useful,” giving teenagers opportunities to practice and learn.

Students have responded positively to having this class next year. Junior Denis Lane is looking forward to being back in the health classroom. Lane said, “I’m excited to have Mrs. Mitchell again.”

“When I took her class sophomore year, I loved it and wanted to take it again,” junior Kate Vogeli said. In prior years, students did not have the opportunity to continue taking high school health classes. Vogeli appreciates having the chance to learn more about health.

“This class teaches real-life skills used for the rest of their lives.” -Mrs. Mitchell

Mrs. Mitchell said, “This class is for anybody interested in health.” She explained that if a student wants to go deeper and learn more about life skills and self-attentiveness, this class may be a good fit for them. Also, students who enjoyed Health in 10th grade may also enjoy this class.

The course is an elective offered primarily to 11th and 12th grade students. Although it is open to all students, it is mandatory to complete the traditional Health course first for baseline information, and Foundations of a Mindful and Healthy Life will build off of that.

When asked how many sections of the new course Mrs. Mitchell will be teaching, she said, “as many as they’ll give me.”

There is no determined number of periods that this class will be offered because schedules for next year have yet to be completed. According to the high school guidance department, the number of sections will be based on enrollment. However, this means Mrs. Mitchell will be teaching at least one fewer regular health class.

Republished from Shoreham-Wading River’s print newspaper, The Wildcat Pause (April 2019 Issue).