Wellness Weekend: Taking Great Care of Ourselves

Besides the smoothie bar at lunch (what a hit!), the highlight for many students was the Saturday morning sessions. Addressing a variety of topics, these sessions were largely conducted by outside speakers. Cate Smith, a corporate chef with Meriwether Godsey, ran a mindful eating session that reflected on the many reasons why we eat (it’s more than just hunger) and an exercise that challenged girls to employ all five senses — not just taste — while enjoying perhaps the most delicious apple ever. Students in Ann Thomas’ “Delete Anxiety” session benefited from a guided relaxation exercise and left with a toolkit of practices and resources to tackle anxious feelings. Girls stayed to continue the conversation about “flow state” with professional cyclist and coach Jared Nieters after his session wrapped, and Foxcroft faculty members Meghen Tuttle, PhD, and Anne Mueller, PhD, stimulated such compelling conversation in their Senior Seminar that their question-and-answer session will continue in Applegate later this semester. Throughout these and other workshops, girls opened their minds and considered what changes, large and small, can help them feel better each day. A feedback survey for the weekend elicited other comments. Among them, the comment, “everyone was really inspiring and a lot more interesting than I thought [they] would be” seemed to sum up student opinion nicely.  

Intentionally planned programming outside of the workshops rounded out Wellness Weekend. Founder and CEO of The Social Institute Laura Tierney, an Alison Harrison Goodyear ’29 Fellow, educated the community on how seven #WinAtSocial standards can help them harness the power of social media for good — more on that here. Small group activities in the dorms Friday evening featured powerful female role models, origami to help alleviate anxiety, and vision boards of future goals. An off-campus ice skating outing Saturday afternoon gave girls an outlet for physical activity, in addition to the hike facilitated by Head of School Cathy McGehee and her husband, Read, earlier that day. And did we mention the smoothie bar? It really was a hit. One girl was even heard to proclaim, “I’ve been wanting this for two years!”

Many thanks to all our speakers for giving their time and energy to this year’s Wellness Weekend sessions, to the Dining Hall staff for offering hot breakfast and a healthy and delicious treat at lunch on Saturday, and especially to Wellness Education Coordinator and STEM teacher Meghen Tuttle for spearheading the weekend.