New classes this year focus on supporting student wellness, preparation

Red Hook High School students have been engaging in two new classes aimed at bolstering student wellness and reducing stress.

The school instituted a course for all first-year students this fall called Freshman Focus, an introduction to problem-solving and managing challenges in a positive and healthy way, and an alternative physical education course titled Mind, Body, Wellness.

Andrew Makebish said Freshman Focus “gives the students the time and the opportunity to discuss things that could help and support them as they move forward, where you wouldn’t have that forum in other classes.”

Makebish, a special education teacher, is one of three Freshman Focus instructors, along with English teacher Brendan Fix and physical education teacher Jennifer Giorgio.

The full-year class “takes students through challenges,” Makebish said, setting a foundation for their high school experience. It covers such topics as scholarly behavior, time management, communicating, building relationships, leadership and envisioning the future and how to get there. The students meet every-other day for around 40 minutes.

The hope is by addressing these issues openly as a group, “the students can realize they’re not the only ones feeling these types of things,” he said. “They’re facing a number of challenges, not only in school but figuring things out socially.”

Academics can become more stressful as high school begins, Makebish said, as it becomes evident performance has an impact on graduation and their future. “Everything gets turned up a level,” he said.

While Freshman Focus and Mind, Body, Wellness have thematic overlaps, they focus on different aspects of wellness.

Barbara Murray, who not only teaches physical education at the high school but also sports exercise and health science, said she’s been wanting to create a class in the vein of Mind, Body, Wellness for several years in the wake of the impact made by COVID-19 pandemic.

“Students have much more anxiety, much more depression. It’s everywhere in Dutchess County, everywhere in the world,” she said. “So much has changed with the kids and their mental health and just their patterns, being able to find outlets for their anxiety.”

The course stresses introspection and reflection as it moves through a curriculum that ranges from yoga and tai chi, to Reiki and Qi Gong, to nutrition and holistic healing. The winter months will include outdoor activities like skiing, snowshoeing and simply playing in the snow, when the weather allows.

The course begins and ends with a self-assessment “wellness compass,” in which the roughly 70 students enrolled grade themselves on how they handle such areas as different relationships, emotions, spirituality, organization and their own resilience. The assessment helped inform how Murray is shaping the course in its first year.

“They were so brutally honest, it was amazing,” she said of the buy-in from the students. “When I looked at them, I saw little things we can work on. I saw these kids are not getting enough physical activity.”

So, though the course incorporates wellness videos and multimedia – much of it through a 10-week mindfulness series called The Lift Project – Murray began having the students watch the videos while engaging in movement exercises. The class engages in breathing exercises and relaxation techniques, and discusses the value of positivity and gratitude.

Mind, Body, Wellness is a dual enrollment class, giving students a chance to receive credit from Dutchess Community College if they pay the enrollment fee. It’s also a course students can take more than once in place of traditional physical education. However, Murray suggests students are best served holding off until sophomore year, at least, to join.

“Our philosophy in physical education is lifetime fitness,” she said. “Yes, we have traditional sports, but all kids have to learn why we do fitness assessments, what do you need to make your body healthy the rest of your life, we do teach that in PE, but in Mind, Body Wellness it goes deeper.”