WELLNESS AND HEART Implementing a model

of change

OF ORANGE
In this article we will be exploring the demographics of William Aberhart as
well as the shift in culture occurring on campus
Wellness Initiative
When I arrived at William Aberhart it was a school ready for change. Talks about
Wellness to address the rising stress and anxiety within the student body was already circulating.
The adminstraion decided to make change. The initiative was called Heart of Orange designed
to be a student-centered club with student based initiatives
During the beginning of the semester, there was a lockdown at Aberhart forced students
to be in confided within their classroom rooms for over 90 minutes. This event really brought to
light the importance of wellness and how the lack of wellness can manifest itself in dangerous
behaviours. This lockdown galvanized the student body even more and sped up the process of
change that the admirstration was trying to implement.
On top of that, there was data collected about how students felt about their student body.
The students self assessed that there was a need for a focus on wellness at the school and that
even though students were doing well with sports and academics there was a disconnect between
wellness and daily routines. It has been found that larger school do tend to have weaker wellness
practices as stated in the number of buildings, wellness committee functionality, and the lack of
a wellness champion may have a negative impact on the quality of school wellness policies
within large school districts. The question becomes: how come wellness is not is equally
sought-after, practiced or pursued as athletic, artistic, and academic success, if one is not well
one cannot perform within sports, musically or academically so why is it that so many student
self asses themselves and their community as unwell? A model was put forth to be a culture shift
within the school. Holmes (2017) describes the initiative as:
This student leadership initiative is focusing on building a safe and caring learning
community in which academics, artists and athletics all thrive. Our heart of Orange is a
unified heart where we support one another to create an environment where we do not
only survive but thrive. We are committed to working together to build a unified heart
that embodies what it means to be Orange

Projects of Heart of Orange

Wellness Committee Social and Spirit committee Student Ambassadors
Safe and caring spaces and Spirit week Advisory committee
places

Peer mentoring/student to Turkey Fest Support as needed at school

student support
Mindfulness activities
Exam support and stress
management
events
Winter carnival Community connection and
partnership with CCC at
Western Canada High school
Spring fling Community service/charity
and volunteer
 Development of a bio
dome and eco-friendly
green spaces
- Holmes 2017

Before any test, mental wellness is imperative, as referred to on Maslow's hierarchy the
need for self esteem and safety comes before the enlightenment. What this means, it is a state of
survival versus state of understanding why we survive. Questions cannot be asked unless we are
alive and well, therefore, should stand to reason of that people cannot perform to their full
abilities unless they know that they are safe and well. There is a disconnect between these
fundamental concepts of wellness and how it affects overall states of be being. This will take
leadership and with how schools build moral school communities, they contend that leadership
plays a key role, often designating transformational leadership as the form most important in
building a moral school community. (Kang & Printy 2009) That is why Heart of orange was
brought in to bridge the gap. It was decided to start with the wellness committee and creating a
safe and caring space, so all students had a place to feel welcome then branch out and reinvent
the community.
Heart of Orange endeavors to create safe spaces in certain location on the 3rd floor the
school and eventually have the whole school feel like a safe space for all. The safe space will
consist of a meditation room accessible to all students and connected to a teachers room. 1-5
people can comfortable sit and meditate with a beautiful view of the surrounding neighborhood.
The Zen dens consist of a couch some simple foods and a few games. Designed for 4-10 people
to allow for a bit more noise but not enough space to get too rowdy. The rooms were converted
from an old Mathematic storage room.
Now that may look like different things, wherever student feels safe could technically be
a safe space. However, these spaces are already embedded in curricula and the general make up
of a school. For example: for some students, the gym is there safe space they feel at home and
more attune to the activities there. Some feel safest in a classroom even after the bell rings,
which sometimes could be a warning sign for not feeling they belong in the cases and others it is
because of a great teacher student relationship. The Heart of Orange is starting to highlight on is
that most doing so feel safe anywhere the safe space does not exclude extroverts, but rather gives
introverts a place where if they choose not to speak as much the will not be taken advantage of or
looked at as a not contributing. So, by reaching the invisible population is quite population that
does not seem to feel safe anywhere we give them a space to open a dialogue and hopefully help
students that may be excluded from skill based programs such and music or sports. The great
thing about most groups and clubs is the sense of comradery with is very important to teenagers.
Every Wednesday and Thursday The Heart of Orange have begun to create a space which were
more relevant to the invisible population. I'm quiet space that welcomes everyone regardless of
skill level, grades, or social status. Place where there's a place to sit down and be quiet and place
it coming with people. Also, a place where if one says nothing are no social repercussions, which
can aid in building on that niche within the community.
 The idea of wellness and the needs of being well vary for individual to each person
making this concept abstract. Therefore, it may take a bit more time than say, creating a football
team and saying we need to win the season. Having a population of students that are not always
very outgoing or have be habituated to be quiet together will take some time to have them
connect. One may come in and just need a quiet space all the other one need me to come in and
feeling they belong something bigger than themselves both can be achieved within these heart of
orange initiatives and this a space is that we have trying to build around the school.
Human beings are social creatures. We thrive in environments where there are other
humans around to support and challenge us when needed. A bigger network of people is called a
community. Community is imperative to the psychological and mental needs of a child. The
community here, according to the students is segregated. Athletes socialize with athletics, music
program students with music program students and more over extraverts control the social
pecking order over introverts. This like in many situations causes more of a division. Students
need peers and friends to feel adequate and have someone to bond with. Students need mentors
to guide them which can come in the form of teachers or more wiser companions. Students need
challenges to feel like they've accomplished something. Aberhart has great traditions but is also
limited by those same traditions. New conventions must be implemented tactfully, or else an
instability could occur however these are the same students that have been crying out for change.
Not all traditions are bad some involve a lot of energy a lot of noise a lot of spirit are greatly
encouraged and valued anywhere around the world, however, for those students that do not want
that loud atmosphere or just weren't that athletic or weren't connected to different bodies there is
almost no place for them. I found it interesting that even amongst the body of athletes they still
feel insecure almost as insecure as the students that are not involved in sports. So being balanced
is not being achieved by the popular students either. Even, the titles that people aspire to at this
young age are just fantasies and ideology. Communities, in general, have become more
competitive within the city and less connected to each other. This is starting to be shown in
schools as well as students are more concerned about making things work for themselves and
taking care of the people that are struggling. Mind you it is a broad sweeping statement there are
still great examples of community love and affection for each other, but it's become so sparse
that students don't feel that safe. One grade 12 student stated that she felt that she was always
being watched when she was at school constantly watched and sized up. She found this very
uncomfortable especially coming into a new place. Our job as educators is to create engaged,
ethical and entrepreneurial citizens (Inspiring Education, Alberta Learning, 2010) but that feat
is impossible with students not feeling safe within there classroom setting. When people feel safe
they perform better on tests and generally have a higher sense of mental fortitude. To think that
the community does not affect the students mental fortitude would be short-sighted. Students
need to be challenged yes, however they also need to feel and see that when they are challenged
and fail they will be supported which seems to be lacking in this area either you have it or you
don't either you're smart or you're not either you're cool or you're not it's a binary way of looking
things in this community when is the Spectrum and it is from changing. human beings are
dynamic one cannot be labeled and remain a in that area there forever things change, and people
change their minds over a thousand times in a day who's the say that cannot change where you
are in this social pecking order the problem is there's a pecking order at this school in the first
place. Having a Community where everyone feels like they can connect with anyone as needed
to help bolster wellness here which is what the project is in the long term. One of the underlying
themes is getting students to connect with each other that do not usually due to Social Circles
and understanding that they are not that different. It is common to find teenagers I think that they
are their own enigma as they go through their existential crisis but knowing that someone else
going through a crisis could provide a level of camaraderie that is lacking in William Aberhart.
Anxiety and stress are two words that are used interchangeably but are different.
Individuals with anxiety disorders are excessively fearful, anxious, or avoidant of perceived
threats in the environment (e.g., social situations or unfamiliar locations) or internal to oneself
(e.g., unusual bodily sensations) (Craske & Stein 2016) while stress is as any external
perturbation to an organisms optimal homeostasis. (Dow, 2014).
The problem here is dealing with stress management students get upset stressed out or be very
much. Administration and teachers are sensitive about little indiscriminate details which to a
student could seem astronomical. However, to help this generation, move forward we can have
to teach him how to deal with stressful situations in a healthy way. Some of the matter comes to
simply teaching fundamental time management skills which can prevent most issues. But
teaching the mental fortitude to handle the social pressures to conform or how to handle how to
be an outlier in groups and cliques you may want to be apart is equally important. According to
Holmes 2017 Stress not only affects learning ability but the entire wellness of the learner.
Teachers should be partially responsible for linking healthy study habits healthy time
management and stress management to curriculum. Healthy habits are seen and reflected in
grades but sometimes it is students sacrificing hours of sleep to finish things because they forgot.
However, one is not suggesting you put a monetary value on studying habit but encouraging
more safer ways to study. Wellness should be more encouraged and all aspects of life.
In conclusion, in order increase want to school we must change the way the people within
the school relate to each other. Understanding that wellness is abstract concept that will look
different for everyone else but having the empathy to embrace everyones type of space in a
welcoming way will be the end goal of this project. We must create a community that is willing
to accept that difference as not a fault, but it need a necessity. To move through wellness having
the space for those people that may not fit into the usual groups around the school to build up a
network of belonging is the right direction. This will take leadership from students and staff
alike. Those students that maybe on unsure of what we are will start to see that there is a change
happening and eventually begin to embrace that change. The meditation space is a bold new step
in the right direction, but it is the first step on a journey toward a lasting change at this school.
Having a tangible place will also give hope to those who may be a bit skeptical about wellness
being treated. If there is a group of people willing to speak for those who prefer not too and those
willing to learn to listen future is bright and welcoming for this school.
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