The concept of Wellness Day was invented by health teacher Ms. Meghan Harding, so that students can have the chance to unwind in school and bond with their peers and teachers through fun and relaxing activities.  The second ever Schreiber Wellness Day took place on Oct. 11, and to the surprise of few, many students left school.  As great of an idea as Wellness Day is, it can’t be successful because of the apathetic culture of our student body. 

In theory, Wellness Day is a great way to get the students and faculty at Schreiber to come together and enjoy a day of entertaining activities.  Clearly, a lot of work goes into planning the multitude of different events and coordinating activities.  Ms. Harding and her team of teachers worked tirelessly for weeks scheduling events that they hoped students would enjoy.  

By creating Google Form sign up sheets and being available  in the Atrium during lunch periods to help students change their activities, they put in so much of their own time and effort into making this day enjoyable for the Schreiber student body.

It is disrespectful for students to ignore the teachers’ hard work.  In addition to what felt like more than half the student body either signing out or skipping their activities, many students didn’t bother filling out the sign-up form, knowing they would leave regardless, which caused further problems for the faculty team.

However, some students in Schreiber wish that Wellness Day was more of a success.  They are under a lot of stress, between classes, clubs, and sports, so many feel that a break is desperately needed.  

All students—both those who did and didn’t stay for their activities—like having a day to relax.  Many teachers give their students less-demanding workloads on this day, due to the shorter 40-minute periods, which gives students time to take a deep breath and catch up. 

A better way to conduct Wellness Day at Schreiber would be to make it non-mandatory. By making school officially end at 1 p.m., students who want to participate would have the option to, and students who don’t would not feel pressured to skip their activities or make up a phony excuse to sign out.

Having Wellness Day this way would also take a weight off of the administration’s shoulders, as they wouldn’t have to be responsible for the students who would skip out on the events.  

Wellness Day is a great way to encourage students to decompress, in theory, but is just not realistically feasible, due to the many students who simply do not care.