healthy initiatives

emily carton director of the upper school

Hebron has long known what many other schools have only discovered in recent years: in order for young people to thrive intellectually, they must also thrive physically, socially, and emotionally. In fact, these ideals are written directly into our mission statement, which explains that at Hebron we “guide students to reach their highest potential in mind, body, and spirit.” But what does that look like in practice? This year, the Hebron community has embarked on several new initiatives to more deeply engage students across all three domains. Mind: Individual Engagement

Our Head of School, Dan Marchetti, likes to say that at Hebron, “every student is known and needed.” Our perennially small class sizes and residential community have long meant that teachers know all their students well. However, finding time to meet with students for extra help or enrichment can sometimes be a challenge. Thanks to the work of last year’s schedule committee, however, students now have an extra block of time during the school day in which they can meet with their teachers. These “H Blocks” — H for Hebron! — are often set aside solely for office hours, akin to the college experience. As H Blocks often follow advisory period, teachers can also coach their advisees in how to use office hours most effectively. On other days of the week, H Block time is used to foster student engagement in cocurricular activities. Student clubs have flourished this year, with the number of clubs increasing from 5 to 22. Exciting new clubs this year include the Sustainability Club, Magic and Cardistry, the Intercultural Club, and Model UN. We believe that students should be encouraged not only to pursue their personal passions, but also to share them with others; luckily, our students have shown they are willing to do just that! In addition, the Hebron faculty have put renewed energy this year into being thoughtful about technology use in the classroom and around campus. Both students and faculty are encouraged to abstain from using their phones in the classroom, in the chapel, and in the dining hall, to allow us to more authentically engage in face-to-face interactions. With the omnipresence of cell phones and social media, we believe that having these tech-free spaces allows us to cultivate important social skills and connections. Body: Healthy Habits

We have also taken steps this year to better support healthy habits outside of the classroom. For example, after noticing that many students reported feeling sleepdeprived, we took a closer look at how we support posi

Under the leadership of their house captains, the Allagash Otters, Katahdin Bears, Sebago Salmon, and

Pemaquid Squid have competed at various weekend events — including the much-anticipated Winter Olympics — to earn points for their houses.

tive sleep hygiene. This led us to implement a “lights out” time on the weekends, similar to what we have historically enforced on weekdays, as the research shows that a consistent sleep schedule is essential for being wellrested. We also noticed that many students were choosing to spend their unstructured weekend time in their bedrooms, despite the exciting trips and activity options the Community Life Team arranges. Again, we looked to the research on this one, which shows that engaging with others and trying new things supports positive mental health. We therefore now close the dorms for three hours each weekend to encourage students to get out of their rooms, try new activities, support their friends at athletic contests, and generally say “yes” to adventure. Students are still welcome to relax in their rooms for much of the weekend, of course, but from 1 to 4pm on Saturdays, campus is especially alive! Spirit: Connected Community

Above all, this year’s new initiatives were driven by the following question: how can we continuously cultivate a connected community? With students from 19 different countries and of tremendous diversity in race, religion, gender, sexuality, background, interests, and experiences, this question is of particular importance to us at Hebron. There is so much we have to learn from one another. We’ve taken several steps this year to build on our sense of community, which has long been one of our strengths. For one, we have recently launched a house system (think: Harry Potter, but Hebron-style!) to connect students across class years, gender, nationality, and interests. Under the leadership of their house captains, the Allagash Otters, Katahdin Bears, Sebago Salmon, and Pemaquid Squid have competed at various weekend events—including the much-anticipated Winter Olympics—to earn points for their houses. Students have also been able to earn house points by embodying Hebron values such as adventure, community, and service. Speaking of service, we have also expanded our service learning opportunities both on the weekends and through our Round Square affiliation (for more about Round Square, check out page 6). Each trimester, we now partner with a different local non-profit at which students can volunteer on the weekends. This fall, we worked with Growing to Give, a non-profit, grow for donation farming operation hosted at Scatter Good Farm in Brunswick, and we are working with Trinity Jubilee Center this winter. We strongly believe that being a part of a connected community means looking out for one another, both within our Hebron family and in the larger global community. n