The act of keeping healthy reaches new heights when you do a backflip on a bicycle, or go into the depths of the earth exploring caves.
Voorheesville Central School District’s Wellness Committee held its second Wellness Day at the high school and middle school Thursday, March 21, which was kicked off with BMX riders soaring into the air off a ramp in the gymnasium. The importance of practicing safety and wearing proper equipment while participating in any sport was stressed, along with not attempting a back flip like the ones three riders of the Rise Above BMX team performed with ease.
There were also workshops throughout the day featuring various wellness activities students could further explore, such as spelunking, wilderness survival, rock climbing, fencing and even humor. The workshops were aimed at introducing students to activities they wouldn’t normally experience in athletics offered by the district.
“The importance of it is we spend a lot of time focusing on academics in schools and I think sometimes what is missing is there is a whole other element — the wellness element,” High School Principal Imran Abbasi said. “It is not just sports, but we are trying to find things for kids to do outside of school that are healthy hobbies and fun things for them to do that are lifelong.”
Abbasi said many staff members brought in friends to teach the workshops, and the district partnered with local businesses and organizations to host the Health and Wellness Fair at the event. He said area experts expose students to new activities that can be done locally.
“I think it is nice for kids to see that adults have healthy hobbies as they get older,” Abbasi said. “It is good for stress relief. It is good for general wellness.”
Jeanne Young, co-chair of the Health and Wellness Fair and a social studies and history teacher, said the more than 20 agencies and businesses at the event educated the students about how to be healthy in “mind, body and spirit.” Some of the things featured at the fair included massage therapy, Reiki, mental health services, nutrition and food preparation demonstrations.
“For students, even for the faculty and staff, too, sometimes we get so caught up in the day-to-day that we forget to take care of ourselves,” Young said. “There are people out in the community that can help us and we should be focusing on the health and wellness of the entire being.”
Young said she personally enjoys bringing the faculty, staff and students together to celebrate health and wellness through something different than what happens in the classroom.
“It is still focusing on allowing you to educate in a different way and to do so by bringing in that community aspect,” Young said.
David Cardona, a sophomore, agreed the day was a “good bonding experience” for students across the entire high school.
“I think most of the activities are pretty fun,” Cardona said.
Allegra Fasull, a senior, enjoyed learning about new activities and hobbies.
“It is cool to learn about things that you wouldn’t learn about in school usually, like rock climbing and yoga,” Fasull said. “We actually get to do hands on stuff, which is the coolest part I think.”
Cardona said he was looking forward to his Hip-Hop dance workshop and thought the BMX show was entertaining. Fasull said she learned some valuable things through a self-defense workshop.
Eric Newton led a caving workshop and worked a little chemistry into a discussion on old helmet lights. He told students how water would drip onto calcium carbide, producing acetylene, which would then be ignited by a “sparker.”
Wellness Committee Chairwoman Judy Zielinski, a family and consumer science teacher for sixth to twelfth grades, said there are many physically active kids in the district. The concern is what happens once school sports are gone, she said, which can leave some otherwise active students in a lurch.
“I think for a lot of children when they get out of school and the organized sports stop, then (they say), ‘What’s next?’” Zielinski said. “For those kids that organized sports are not their thing it gives them other ideas on ways they can be active.”
She said students often hear about the benefits of being active from teachers and parents, but it is good to have someone else reinforce those values.
“Sometimes, just hearing the same thing from someone else helps them to pay a little more attention,” she said.