Wellnesspalooza Brings Joy in Inaugural Year

While the end of every school year includes big events and traditional closing ceremonies, especially at Parker, for some in the Upper School, the end of the year brings anxiety and a sense of feeling overwhelmed by wrapping up projects, taking finals and preparing for the next step. So Upper School Counselor Kirstin Williams’ decision to organize a “Wellnesspalooza” came at a perfect time.

Inspired by the festival Faces of Fitness that she attended with P.E. teacher Madi Maldonado, Williams created her own wellness fair in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month. “Instead of a more traditional approach, i.e., having a speaker come talk to our community about mental health,” Williams explained, “I wanted to bring a more interactive and engaging approach that provided not only education and awareness about mental health, but also a variety of interactive ways to manage it—therapy dogs, slime making, gardening and more. I also reached out to local businesses for raffle prizes and refreshments, and I’m so appreciative of people’s willingness to support our cause. Places like LeftCoast, Barry’s Bootcamp and Solidcore really stepped up!”

Upper School students participated in events including listening to presentations from the National Alliance on Mental Health on “ending the silence” of mental health issues, creating slime or vision boards, petting therapy dogs or attending physical activities like yoga or “Shred415.” Williams shared, “When planning Wellnesspalooza, I was very intentional about highlighting different types of wellness practices. I wanted to make sure there were activities that supported emotional and mental health, physical health and spiritual health. After separating them into those three categories, I then considered what types of activities would fall under each. Because it’s the first year, I didn’t want to overwhelm people, so I tried to stick with a handful of activities for each category. Finally, I reached out to people both inside and outside of the Parker community to see who was willing and able to facilitate that activity or brainstorm other options.”

Whether it was making slime the size of their heads, potting plants, petting dogs or shredding their core, students left with a brighter and, hopefully, healthier mindset. And while it may have been hard work, Williams was floored and inspired by the community response. “Phew! It takes a lot to organize and execute a community-wide event like Wellnesspalooza. My biggest takeaway is that you can’t do anything alone. Like mental health, there is such strength in asking for help, and I’m so grateful that our community not only saw the need for something like Wellnesspalooza but have already expressed interest in helping to make it even bigger and better next year!”

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