HAFTR High students learn healthy mental habits

Always looking out for their students, Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway High School had a successful and fun Health Week, Feb. 14 to 18, where students learned how to create and maintain healthy habits and stay fit.

Throughout the week, students participated in activities that encouraged and raised awareness of the importance of mental health. On Monday, students wore green, a color that is linked to positive thinking, creativity and overall well-being. Students learned about how to stay on top of their mental health by engaging in activities that reduce stress and anxiety.

One of the first activities encouraged students to send anonymous notes with inspiring messages to support each other. These words were displayed on the screen in the lobby for everyone to see. In addition, there was a mental health podcast starring seniors Eitan Saffra and AJ Solinsky, where they talked about mental health issues related to school, and offered suggestions of how to handle school in a way that makes learning fun.

As the week progressed, there were various programs designed for each grade to continue spreading health awareness throughout the entire school. Freshmen took part in a vision board project where they created visual posters to help them chart out their thoughts and map out their goals. Freshmen and sophomores also had Yachad sensitivity training where they learned about how to act with kindness and gentleness while working with special needs children.

Sophomore girls were addressed by Gila Glassberg, who spoke to them about body image and ways to start loving themselves for who they are. Juniors made skits to learn about how to handle stress in a fun way. And to emphasize the important link between physical and emotional health, girls sweated it out in an intense Zumba session while the boys engaged in martial arts classes.

The week ended off with “Healthy Habits Challenge Day,” where students engaged in a series of four healthy habits to enrich their well-being and gratitude. First was the gratitude challenge, where students wrote letters expressing all that they are grateful for to their teachers and fellow classmates, which made everyone feel appreciated and happy.

Next, there was a random act of kindness challenge which had students perform a kind act for someone, and then tell that person to pass on the kind act to someone else. This started a chain reaction of kindness which was spread throughout the whole school. There was also an exercise challenge where students were challenged to do any amazing physical feat and show it to a teacher.

Lastly, and my personal favorite, there was the technology break challenge where students voluntarily left their phones in the psychology office until noon. This challenge was so impactful since it allowed students to break free from the norm by disconnecting from their phones.

Time away from technology led to a focused and fun morning where everyone felt the deeper connections they seemed to have with their classmates and teachers.

Health Week was a complete success, and I speak on behalf of the student body to say that we all had an informative, “growthful” and fun time this week. Looking forward to many more awesome weeks ahead at HAFTR High School!