3 minute read
Health & Wellness of Our Community
The Health & Wellness of Our Community
BY MELANIE BAUMAN, DIRECTOR OF WELLNESS
From the very beginning of the pandemic, Webb engaged our entire community in thinking about how we not only survive a pandemic, but how we thrive.
As we transitioned from languid days on Zoom to the exciting, and for some overwhelming, experience of being together (again for some, and for the first time for many), the administration and faculty began to think through what learning loss for an adolescent might look like in practical application. We would need to reteach our values, remind juniors stepping into leadership positions what they had learned about as incoming 9th graders about what makes Webb special. We knew from surveying the community that our energy would be different, that there was a true emotional toll of surviving a pandemic, and that to thrive together we would need to have open communication, allow significant space for emotional touch points and that rebuilding, establishing, or strengthening relationships with each other was key.
Relationships and connection are where we started, and engaging our student leaders was crucial. Immediately, student leaders began to talk about what new students didn’t know: clean up after yourself in the Dining Hall; talk through disagreements; don’t rely on cancel culture to solve conflict; acknowledge and discuss the impact of words vs. their intent; oh and by the way, that classroom you can’t pronounce, it’s right over here! Student leaders themselves felt that adjustment, as they searched their memories to take on their new roles, being reminded along the way and at times learning right alongside new students.
The first few months of the 2021-22 school year highlighted how differently the pandemic was experienced for individuals in our community. Different countries and states passed through the year and a half prior with vastly different guidelines and safety nets. Some students had not been in large crowds for months, some had the privilege of living in spaces with open air
Admission Fellow Nick Lee '22 leads a new student group during Orientation 2021
access all along, some had never experienced a lengthy lockdown, while others had been living in and out of various states of lockdown throughout. As a result, coming back together in a safe, COVID-preventative way was our priority. Beyond working with students to understand best health practices in the context of communal living, together we were vaccinated, we explored the safety of outdoor vs. indoor dining, we got used to masks in class, and toggled through weekly updates to our health process as the world learned best practices and adjusted with varying levels of protective measures.
As we became accustomed to the space again, and health guidelines began to feel less foreign, our focus shifted to the way we are with each other in the celebratory and challenging moments. Students and adults alike focused on the ways we regain energy, as so many community members noted that exhaustion from constant social engagement seemed strangely intense. Pressure in these moments highlighted how our emotional bandwidth needed care and attention as we shifted once again to navigate the rebuilding of interpersonal conflict skills, something that extensive screen time and social distancing had shaken. We practiced ADEAR conversations with classes that struggled through conversations about identity; learned about each other through storytelling events; reflected on the change we all experienced through chapel talks; and spent time in each class reflecting on how we enter into each space, taking a moment of personal reflection that helped normalize and breathe life into these initial challenges.
We rode out waves of COVID worry, managed isolation spaces, adjusted to new and updated guidance, learned to take perspective when pushed to our limits with yet another moment of “COVID has taken from me...” – and we leaned hard into community, the connections that we knew from the beginning would be our largest and most preventative supports. We taught traditions to ¾ of the student body who had never seen or experienced these events before. We introduced transitions to the school that we would be taking in this and the coming years, and eventually we all began to look ahead to the future. Having talked about it for over a year and a half, we moved from surviving into full Webb thriving, and now we begin again, with a renewed foundation and excitement for the future.
Upper campus during move-in after Winter Break in January 2022
