Centering Student Wellness

By Fabi ’26 and Willa ’25, Horizons Media Team Interns

Fabi ’26 and Willa ’25 sat down with MHS Dean of Health and Wellness Kristen Milano and Health and Horizons Wellness interns Giada ’26 and Vicky ’25 to talk about MHS Wellness Week.

Returning after a successful 2023-24 debut, Wellness Week features wellness-themed workshops designed to encourage students to think holistically about their physical and mental wellbeing — now and in the future. This year featured screen-time and hydration challenges, opportunities for conversations about health and wellness, and time for active movement, including walks exploring the wonders of our 80-acre campus.

New this year — and popular with students! — were complimentary goodie bags with Poppi soda, LMNT Electrolyte Packs, and other treats. Giada secured the partnerships after sending emails to 15 wellness brands, asking if they would donate items for Wellness Week. Poppi sent more than 250 Poppi’s for Wellness Week!

Giada and Vicky became members of the Health and Wellness Team due to their interest in Student Life. They were excited for the opportunity to work with the school community to create a more positive perspective about healthy lifestyles. Giada aspires to further her education in the medical field, making her internship with the Health and Wellness Team beneficial for her future.

They have spent the 2024-25 year working with Dean Milano, preparing and planning for Wellness Week. Along the way, they solicited feedback from students and adults regarding last year’s event to determine what should be included this year. A planning committee of students and adults assisted with incorporating ideas and organizing the workshops accordingly. To ensure the inclusion of popular workshops from last year, they created a survey for people’s preferred workshops.

This year’s offerings included workshops on mindful painting, Pilates, making pasta, making hand balms, meditating/energy balance, body image/listening to our bodies, sleep hygiene, visual journaling, and making overnight oats. Participants could also meet with MHS partners Learning Courage for conversations centered around dealing with historical sexual assault at MHS, or they could relax and/or get active by reading at MHS-favorite Dottie’s Coffee Lounge, knitting and crocheting by the fireplace, taking a mindful walk in the MHS woods, watching a wellness movie, or snowshoeing across the MHS campus.

Among Vicky and Giada’s favorite offerings this year were the Sleep Hygiene and pasta-making workshops and watching the wellness movie, Inside Out.

In addition to working to plan Wellness Week, Giada hosted a highly popular Pilates workshop this year! In eighth grade, Giada began practicing Pilates and discovered her passion for it. She became aware that practicing Pilates resulted in a positive mental shift and increased her self-care. She loves taking Pilates classes at home and doing Pilates in the morning before her classes!

While planning Wellness Week, Giada and Vicky noted that they encountered challenges such as insufficient time for planning and communication issues, as their meetings were limited to once a week. Everything turned out well after they began working outside of Horizons hours. While organizing this major event, they gained knowledge regarding time management, the mechanics of planning, confidence about reaching out to people, and the importance of understanding reactions to their offerings throughout the week.

Their takeaways from Wellness Week are that it was successful, and students genuinely liked the workshops they participated in. They are thinking about two options for future Wellness Week events: one would be similar to the current offering, while the other would involve a collaboration with the MHS Culinary Team. This could include new food and dining choices for students to sample, providing insight into other healthful foods.

For future Health and Wellness Interns, they want to observe 9th-grade lessons to gain an understanding of the work 9th graders do, including their participation in lessons with school counselors and nurses for the Wellness curriculum. They also would like to include staffulty to offer additional workshops such as yoga and Reiki.

We are already looking forward to next year’s event!