On March 11, Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School held its second Wellness Fair, the first of which was held in 2024. Complete with baby goats and therapy dogs, students at IBW had the chance to recharge and relax for two hours during the school day by participating in 75 different breakout sessions.
That morning, the school gathered in the gym after first period for a short assembly organized by students and IBW’s school social worker, Britni Locke.
“Our school community has been through a lot of loss,” Locke said, while stressing the importance of self-care and prioritizing mental health. Addressing students, Locke shared how the Wellness Fair is an opportunity to find supportive tools or make a new friend.
Three IBW students then introduced the assembly’s keynote speaker, Dennis Ahana. Ahana is a professional counselor and therapist in Oregon. He spoke to IBW students about his experience as a high school student and how he learned the importance of self-care.
“We’re all doing this for the first time,” Ahana said. He reminded the IBW community to give others and themselves grace. “Learn from other humans how to be human,” he said.
Ahana also posed a question he once received that caused him to reflect on his own mental health. “Do you love yourself?” he said. Connecting the community, he asked IBW to raise their hands if they’ve ever felt disappointed, ashamed, happy or excited. As Ahana said, “We’re all the same.”
Ahana explained how self-care changed his life, giving the audience three takeaways.
- You have to explore. “Feel the fear and do it anyway,” he said.
- Express yourself. Words can’t get to everything; find outlets and options that allow you to be yourself.
- Learn how to thank yourself. Believe in yourself, show up on days you don’t feel like it, and do the hard work; only you can celebrate yourself authentically.
Ahana left with one final reminder: “Take some time today to take care of yourself, even if it’s just for five minutes,” he said.
After Ahana’s speech, students were directed to exit the gym and enjoy the activities. Each student had an “Ida B. Wellness Passport” with directions and information on each session. After each session, passports were stamped for a chance to be entered into raffles. Two stamps gave students an entry into a raffle for a $30 Amazon gift card, and three gave them an entry into a raffle for the grand prize wellness basket.
During the fair, there was a wide variety of decompressing and fun sessions, with rooms that included slime, friendship bracelets, dance parties, board games, yoga classes and more. There was even a room dedicated to showing “The Office.” Donuts and juice were also available in the auditorium.
“I started by going to Ms. Kirk’s room to make bracelets with friends,” said Evelyn Hays, a freshman at IBW. “It was really relaxing.”
Several sessions covered more serious and heavy topics. Topics included grief counseling, learning how to respond to overdoses, discussions of violence prevention and drug addiction lessons. These were available to all students, but included trigger warnings in the “Ida B. Wellness Passport” so students could be prepared going into a breakout session or avoid topics that triggered them.
Two of the most popular sessions included baby therapy goats and therapy dogs. Students waited in line for a chance to meet the goats outside in the cold, spring-morning courtyard.
Fun sessions were balanced by informational and cultural activities, including ADPI’s Snacks and Stories, hosted by Jamie Suehiro and the Asian Desi Pacific Islander club in room 234. During this session, students learned about Pono, a Hawaiian word that encourages people to act with integrity and honor their place in the world.
Suehiro explained that it’s also important to be pono with your identity, knowing where you and your family came from, encouraging students to connect with their community and heritage.
Additionally, several sessions covered mental, nutritional, and physical health, such as Nourishing Body and Mind: What Every High Schooler Needs to Know, presented by Greta Jarvis.
Jarvis is an Intuitive Eating Counselor and an Integrative Health Coach with Duke Integrative Medicine. She spoke about the importance of fueling your body as a high school student, and highlighted that guilt and anxiety should have no place in eating. “Your body’s your home,” she said.
Students had positive reactions to the fair, leaving recharged and refreshed. “I really liked the Wellness Fair,” said Hays. “I definitely think [IBW] should keep doing it because it helps relieve a lot of stress about grades and school work.”
