Does taking a break from school work truly help students’ mental health? Edison Intermediate School (EIS) explored the idea of having mental health breaks and decided to have a “Wellness Wednesday.” This day included activities like coloring, watching a movie, and visiting therapy dogs in different rooms of the school. Dr. Matthew Bolton the principal of EIS stated, “My favorite part of today was seeing the students get a break and watching students have an enjoyable time with the dogs.”

According to research, mental health breaks provide a chance for teenagers to recharge, destress, rest and reflect. Evidently, healthier students lead to better learners, according to research. At EIS, Wellness Wednesday included various activities including an advisory period at the beginning of the day to introduce the idea. Throughout the day students were able to color, converse with other students, make slime and oobleck, see guidance dogs and do other in-class activities. The goal of these activities was to create a stress free, fun environment.

Numerous teachers also believe that Wellness Wednesday was engaging, helpful and should be a recurring thing. Specifically, sixth and seventh grade orchestra teacher Mrs. Amanda Gant said,“If Wellness Wednesday was done more often than I think it would help students improve. Another thing that me and my students used to do is meditation. Wellness Wednesday should become weekly in order to have a large effect on students’ mindset and academic capabilities.”

Although many students enjoyed having a break from school work, others thought that it needed improvement. Seventh grader Charles Plummer stated, “We mostly did coloring and individual activities. I would have rather watched shows and had no school.” 

Many other students including Michael Finn and Charles Plummer thought that the majority of the activities were repetitive. When asked these students thought that coloring could have been replaced with more group activities to let them socialize with their friends more.

EIS guidance counselors were a big fan of Wellness Wednesday. Eighth grade guidance counselor Kimberly Lisnock expressed, “We do want to do it again, and we are really happy with the outcome of it since it gave off such good energy. Our intention to do this once a marking period. We hope kids were able to enjoy the stress free day with no pressure and worry.”