Starting September strong, the CdMHS ASB wellness committee has brought Wellness Wednesday back to campus. Reinforcing their positive purpose to provide a warm, welcoming space for students, the wellness committee’s staple event took place during lunch on Wednesday, September 6th. On this particular afternoon, the sweet smell of cookies inhabited the senses of all those who passed near the ASB room. Boisterous laughter projected out and accompanied the grandma’s homemade cookies (realistically, they were store-bought).
This first wellness Wednesday served as a pit stop for some as Kris Villaluz, a junior here at CdM, quickly grabbed a cookie, talked with friends, and left for class. As it is her junior year, a rumored “hard era of high school”, Villaluz knows that her stress levels will be off the charts come testing season. With this in mind, having a haven such as the ASB room on the first Wednesday of every month will be crucial to maintaining “not only [her] mental health but [her] sanity.” Segueing into her final thought of the very reason she stepped foot into room 304, Villaluz wholesomely states that “[she] came because [she] cares about the wellness of students at CdM.” Not only caring for herself and her mental health, she finds herself wanting others to feel like they are confident, capable, and comfortable in such a competitive environment as CdM.
Cody Packard, a freshman on the ASB wellness committee, remarks “Everyone likes cookies, vegans and vegetarians can all eat cookies…” Pausing to think, Packard continues to say, “scratch that vegans can’t because of eggs, but everyone else likes cookies.” Using such food as an attention grabber and incentive is what this committee holds to with almost every Wellness Wednesday events they have had previously. Having this consistency not only in providing food but the placement Wellness Wednesday has on the calendar (every month on the first Wednesday) caters to the committee’s desire to have a sense of trust with the student body. To sign off on this Wellness Wednesday, a rhetorical yet thought-out question is posed by Packard; “why not give people what they want?”