Wellness at Kinkaid - Kinkaid Magazine

WINTER/SPRING 2017

Wellness at Kinkaid Nurturing Mind and Body

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THE KINKAID SCHOOL

Interim Term Foundations of Yoga Class

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hile the overall well-being of Kinkaid students has been a top priority for the School since the earliest days of Mrs. Kinkaid’s oneroom classroom, over time the increasing need for a more structured wellness program became evident.

The genesis of a formal wellness program began seven years ago when Kinkaid faculty, administrators and coaches met to discuss their concerns about overall student wellness.

The initial conversations were about sleep, stress, over-scheduling and what the School could do to support the overall health of its students. They learned that the School already had many initiatives related to wellness — an active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a healthy and fulfilling life, including physical, emotional and social well-being — but they felt that these initiatives needed a school-wide direction and organization.

Tyler Higby ‘15 & Dr. Simpson talk to Kindergartners about persistence

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This group’s dedication and concern for students led to the creation of The Kinkaid Wellness Committee in 2010 to increase

emphasis and coordination of wellness activities. Today, Director of Wellness Cheryl Mitchell leads these efforts, with the strong support of Headmaster Andy Martire and Assistant Headmaster Ed Trusty. The following is an overview of Kinkaid’s multi-faceted approach to providing a healthy, balanced experience for all students.

The foundations of wellness begin in the Lower School, where Pre-K through first grade students participate in MindUP, a curriculum that teaches the key parts of the brain and the science behind how the brain influences their thinking, emotions and behavior.

Students also learn about mindfulness and its techniques to better pay attention to their thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations.

Growth mindset traits of optimism, resilience,

WINTER/SPRING 2017

8th grade peer mentors work on team building with 6th graders

flexibility, persistence and empathy are taught to Pre-K through fourth grade students through classroom read-alouds and conversations. Additionally, wellness topics such as healthy eating, importance of sleep, healthy friendships and kindness are woven into a variety of lessons taught each day in lower school classrooms. Through daily physical education, students work on fitness, strength and teamwork and have the opportunity to discuss and practice the traits of empathy, grit and optimism. These lessons are further reinforced during a weekly spot on KLS News by Lower School Counselor Dr. Nancy Simpson and Lower School Wellness Director Molly Higby.

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ellness in the Middle School reinforces concepts learned in Lower School and introduces mentoring programs and wellness assemblies. Seventh graders get an extra dose of wellness education through a Human Development class focusing on stress management, healthy eating, the importance of sleep, building healthy relationships and mindfulness.

Learning from positive role models is an important part of wellness education. In the Middle School Peer Mentor Program, seventh and eighth grade students provide mentorship to aid fifth and sixth grade students in

their transition to Middle School. Interested students apply for peer mentor positions and work in teams with their advisory groups throughout the year. They design and lead a series of activities and discussions on team-building, social relationships, cybercitizenship and academic skills. The Upper School to Middle School Peer Counseling Program (US2MS) was created by a Kinkaid upper school student who remembered the challenges of middle school and wanted to serve as a role model and mentor to middle school students. Upper and middle school counselors Dr. Laura Lomax-Bream and Dr. Jay Glynn train a small group of upper school students who attend seventh and eighth grade class meetings to discuss issues such as bullying, body image, social media, healthy friendships and stress, while serving as positive role models.

Two middle school assemblies each school year are dedicated to wellness. This fall, students heard from sports dietitian and consultant to Kinkaid Athletics, Roberta Anding, R.D., about the importance of healthy nutrition, hydration and the Kinkaid Healthy Plate, which she developed to teach students how to make healthier choices when choosing foods in the new dining center. The spring assembly will focus on the importance of sleep.

“Kinkaid is committed to creating a safe, welcoming and joyful place to learn where every child’s well-being is important.”

Director of Wellness Cheryl Mitchell

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THE KINKAID SCHOOL

Senior peer mentors mix it up with freshmen at the Freshman Retreat

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n the Upper School, mentoring among students continues with advisory groups and the Upper School Peer Mentor Program. Peer mentors are a select group of seniors who mentor freshmen during the school year. The peer mentors plan and implement the programming for Freshman Orientation and the Freshman Retreat. Additionally, they hold bi-weekly lunch meetings with their advisory groups.

Topics covered include tips for managing academic workload, the importance of sleep, navigating friendships, peer pressure, social media health and safety, stress and any questions or the worries the freshmen want to discuss.

Peer mentors also plan Wellness Week, which offers students fun, interactive activities and dress-up days to focus attention on wellness.

Decisions, a semester long course for ninth graders, provides research based curriculum, weekly mindfulness study and opportunities for students to study and discuss topics such as healthy relationships, navigating social media, goal setting, depression and resiliency, study strategies, stress and stress management, alcohol and other drug education and healthy sexuality. These discussions are reinforced in advisory groups comprised of one faculty member and 10-12 students. Advisory groups, which remain together through graduation, meet weekly and strive to build

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connections and create a safe space to discuss wellness related issues.

Most students start driving during their sophomore year, making it a pivotal year for the booster classes provided by Sophomore Health and Wellness Day covering alcohol awareness, skills to counter negative peer pressure, healthy relationships and tools for stress management. The Transitions program in the spring teaches seniors tools for their transition to college life with topics such as alcohol, nutrition in the dining hall, dating, working through roommate issues and staying safe on campus.

As many middle and upper school students play competitive sports, Kinkaid athletics plays a big role in student life and acts as an extension of the wellness classroom where students learn the importance of hard work, cooperation with teammates, respect for opponents, competing with heart and learning to win or lose with dignity. Kinkaid Director of Sport Psychology John Couture meets with coaches, teams and individual players about positive mindsets, goal setting, tools to be a supportive teammate, tools to control the “controllables” and the definition of success. Roberta Anding returned to Kinkaid in February to speak to spring sport athletes and their parents about hydration and proper nutrition for athletes.

Interim Term Kale & Kickboxing Class

WINTER/SPRING 2017

Kinkaid faculty and staff participated in wellness activities this year, too. The Faculty Mindfulness Study Group, led by upper school teacher Christa Forster, meets once a month to practice mindfulness and study its benefits. The Faculty and Staff Fitness Challenge encourages health and fitness while honoring former Kinkaid parents, Dawn and Antonio Armstrong (see sidebar).

The Wellness Committee also supports wellness education opportunities for parents.

During her fall visit to the Middle School, Roberta Anding was joined by Betsy King, R.D. to present to the parent community about nutrition and the healthy features of the new dining center. The Kinkaid parent community also heard from Dr. Leonard Sax, MD, PhD, bestselling author of parenting books including his most recent, The Collapse of Parenting. Prevention specialists from Freedom from Chemical Dependency (FCD), a global, non-profit substance abuse prevention organization, spoke with middle and upper school students, as well as parents, about keeping healthy teens healthy.

Kinkaid strives for excellence for its students in all areas, and balance is no exception. Over the last seven years, the Kinkaid wellness program has made great strides toward its original goal of helping students Pre-K through grade 12 to be emotionally, physically and socially healthy individuals. Its efforts are timed perfectly for a world where demands on students’ time and attention continue to create new and greater obstacles to keeping a Students demonstrate that supportive friends matter at Sophomore healthy balance. Lessons Health & Wellness Day learned through wellness education will support students during their years at Kinkaid and provide them with the tools to navigate challenges as they transition into future phases of life so that nurturing kids, mind and body, may translate into healthy, well-balanced adults.

Faculty and Staff Fitness Challenge in Honor of Dawn and Antonio Armstrong Cheryl met with Headmaster Andy Martire over the summer, and he had the idea of starting a fitness challenge to honor Dawn and Antonio, their deep commitment to health and fitness and their joy of life. This past fall, randomly assigned teams of two faculty/staff tracked their individual and collective minutes of exercise for ten weeks. The three pairs with the highest total minutes of exercise completed won prizes, as well as an increased level of fitness!

Congratulations to the fall winners!

Mr. Dennis Kliza and Ms. Lisa Curry Mrs. Mariana Schneller and Ms. Marina Barros Ms. Tatum Branaman and Mrs. Lauri Anderson

Dawn and Antonio Armstrong were vibrant, well-loved members of the Kinkaid community, and their untimely passing left a void in many hearts. Their absence can still be felt keenly, particularly around the courts and playing fields where they were commonly found cheering on their own children and other Kinkaid teams or encouraging members of the Kinkaid faculty and staff through morning workouts.

Cheryl Mitchell, Kinkaid Wellness Director, coach and faculty member, joined the morning workout group Antonio led last school year and says, “He was truly one of the most inspirational, generous and kind human beings I have ever had the privilege to know. Antonio had a special talent for demanding excellence and hard work, but he did it in such a loving and encouraging way that the experience was powerful and positive. I always talked to Dawn at Kinkaid games and events - she was also a loving, caring and positive person.

They both made health and wellness a way of life each and every day and encouraged others to live life to the fullest.” It is in the Armstrong’s honor that the Kinkaid Faculty and Staff Fitness Challenge was created.

The Challenge is a win-win as entry fees each fall and spring will be donated in Dawn and Antonio’s honor to a charity of the Armstrong family’s choice, with $500 going to a holiday toy drive this past December.

The spring Challenge kicked off in January and is well underway with teams of three tracking their progress on a measurable fitness goal such as number of steps taken each week, number of minutes exercised, number of pounds lost or number of fitness classes attended over the next ten weeks.

Each individual determines a personal fitness/ health goal, and the team will help encourage and inspire each other as Dawn and Antonio inspired them.

Team Beccarol — Becca Hobbs, Carol Baumgarth

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