Our school had a great year focusing on the areas of need that came from the School Health Index results. In our previous years, we focused on staff health and wellness as our main concern. This year, as we continued to make that part of our areas of concern; we also focused on community involvement and partnerships, as well as branching out to include some whole-school initiatives.

Areas of staff health and wellness that were successful this year were when we partnered with local area businesses to provide wellness services. Ascension Wellness, an area spa, came to the school to provide 10-minute chair massages for staff twice this school year. Additionally, we partnered with a new local business, Pride Protein, to provide protein shakes and smoothies to staff on two different occasions.

Our Health and Wellness Team also continued past successful events as well, as we had 24 staff members participate in the Duck Donut 5K at Duke Island Park in Bridgewater back in May. Additionally, the team planned and organized a Staff Field Day at the end of the year that included boxed lunches from a local Jersey Mike’s Subs and a Kona Ice Truck. One teacher brought their children’s unicorn sprinkler, and the day included various activities. We had about 50 staff members brave the heat and join us on our field day.

One new staff activity we were able to add this year was Wellness Bingo during Heart Health Month in February. Staff members who wanted to participate were given BINGO cards at the beginning of the week that included various exercises and mindfulness practices. Every Friday any staff member that completed a BINGO put their boards in a raffle. The winner of each week received a gift card.

Along with focusing on expanding our community connections and staff wellness, this year we also incorporated several whole school and student activities as well. The first was having the Wellness Team work with the administration to plan our first annual SEL Day. The administration set up a guest speaker with Daniel “Book’Em” Rivera who created The Bridges Project. He was a high school dropout who went and got his GED, became a police officer, and now gives back to the community. He had a message of self-love and having people to help you with goals in life. We also had positive message stickers placed on all of the schools’ students and staff bathrooms. Every Study Hall participated in Mindfulness sessions, and we provided protein shakes and massages to staff during their lunchtimes. Our final schoolwide activity I am proud of was setting a goal to log enough miles as a school to make it to the Olympics in Paris, equaling a total of 3,650 miles. We set up a Google Form that was sent out weekly for everyone to fill out and map our progress over the last six weeks of the school year. Not only did we reach our goal, but exceeded it, walking/running a total of 4,045 miles.

The breakdown of participants is as follows:

• 5- 12th graders
• 6- 10th graders
• 9- 11th graders
• 6- 12th graders
• 26 Staff members including administrators, paraprofessionals, teachers, and administrative assistants

Conclusion:

We are proud to grow our culture of wellness through the various initiatives this grant has allowed us to implement. As we move forward, we will conduct a climate survey among our staff and students, as opposed to just staff. We would like to create different
schoolwide challenges throughout the year and use some of our funds as incentives to participate. Additionally, we would like to create a possible schoolwide field day. The number of staff members we have participating in the different activities has increased over the years. Our first 5K included 12 staff members, the second 18 staff members, and this year we had 24 members participate. We look forward to continuing to increase participation as the years go on. Our number of staff participating in the field day also increased. We had 20 more staff members participate than we did last year. Through a climate survey, the updates on the School Health Index, and feedback from the Health and Wellness Team, we look forward to the upcoming school year and growing our program ideas and activities even further. The year will start off with a surprise for staff & students that shows our pride as Crusaders and builds on our school culture.