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Letter from the President & Principal: Applied Wellness

8/20/2019

BY PRESIDENT KATIE KONIECZNY, DSHA '92 & PRINCIPAL DAN QUESNELL

This letter was included in the Summer 2019 edition of The Word. It discusses the implementation of Applied Wellness, an approach to educating the whole person new to the 2019-2020 school year.
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DEAR DSHA COMMUNITY,

Four years ago we implemented a new approach to educating young women of faith, heart, and intellect. The foundation of this change was a newly designed hybrid school schedule to support both the academic environment as well as promoting and supporting student wellness. This change in approach also coincided with the opening of our brand new health and wellness facility. This facility includes the Chris and John McDermott Gymnasium, the Sarah Hegarty Fitness Center, and the Mind/Body Studio.

The new state-of-the-art facilities helped usher in our innovative approach to physical fitness in which DSHA students exercise two days per week all four years. Opposite of these requirements, three days per week, was maximum access to all of DSHA’s resources: school counselors, campus ministers, study hall, the library and ALPHA, our academic resource space.

Over the past four years, we have found that Dashers overwhelmingly choose study hall as the default option for their allotted wellness time, rather than more evenly choosing the range of available resources. Over these four years, student wellness — particularly mental health — has become a more prominent national discussion. Author and speaker Rachel Simmons in her book, Enough as She Is, points to the 2017 Girls’ Index which indicates that one in three high school girls report being sad or depressed four or more days per week. Data collected on DSHA students via the annual Risk Behavior Survey is similar.

Mental health challenges also include social media culture. This spring DSHA invited national speaker and author Ana Homayoun to DSHA; she spoke to students, faculty and parents about social media wellness, sharing her strategies for helping girls navigate the digital world in a positive and balanced way.

So what does this mean for DSHA? It is time for us to evolve our wellness approach.

This past spring we announced this evolution as our Applied Wellness Program. This program will bring a new and customized wellness experience to each Dasher. It will more deliberately connect her with the range of wellness resources she needs, but perhaps most importantly, it will allow her to practice honing the management of her own wellness skills.

The Applied Wellness Program will focus on academic, social, emotional, and spiritual wellness in a manner that will give girls the opportunity to connect with other students in faculty/staff-led small groups surrounding related topics.

This past summer we are also drafting our next strategic plan and student wellness will be a leading strategic effort in the years to come. In the short run, if you would like to learn more about supporting the wellness of your teenager, here are three books to consider reading.

• Enough As She Is: How to Help Girls Move Beyond Impossible Standards of Success to Live Healthy, Happy, and Fulfilling Lives by Rachel Simmons

• Social Media Wellness: Helping Tweens and Teens Thrive in an Unbalanced Digital World by Ana Homayoun

• Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood by Lisa Damour, Ph.D

Be well,

Katie Konieczny, DSHA '92
President

Dan Quesnell
Principal

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