In a recent article, student contributor, Payton Kut, highlighted how mental health is a very understated issue at Kents Hill, explaining how the school’s lack of a deep understanding beyond media portrayals leads to unintended, but ineffective solutions and ignorance. As an 18-year-old, I acknowledge the limited psychological knowledge I have to challenge the faculty’s understanding of mental health at a boarding school, especially the professionals on campus, but as Payton Kut represents, experience often surpasses taught knowledge. Additionally, mental health has grown and changed much in recent years.

        Many of us recall when Wellness Days were around and we also remember, unfortunately, just how tedious securing one was. Wellness days were discontinued because faculty believed too many students were misusing them, which I feel was an unfair sense of judgment considering, one, it was two days out of the year, and two, that’s not stopping anyone from skipping on a regular day. All in all, why they were discontinued is outweighed by why they should be revised and brought back. With that said, here is what I think a revised Wellness Day should entail:

1. Having an 8 a.m. deadline makes no sense considering Ms. Michaud isn’t even in office by then. Sometimes you wake up not feeling like going to school. In that case, students should be able to email teachers or call the health center directly to inform them.
2. Students should be allowed to take Wellness Days on Mondays or Fridays, with a valid reason needed for one after a long weekend. They should also be allowed regardless of tests or assignments, and it will be the student’s responsibility to arrange for a make-up time. Students will still not have access to Wellness Days right after an unscheduled holiday, but they should still be allowed one that same week once the holiday falls before Wednesday.
3. Students are exempt from both school and sports/extracurriculars with the acceptance that they will be on the bench of a game the day after.
4. Wellness days should be allowed twice per semester, and Seniors, per senior privilege, should have more. Unused days should be carried to the new school year, once they do not get to an absurd amount. Students are also not allowed to use one the day after or in the same week as one, unless absolutely necessary.
5. Lastly, if a student emails a teacher or calls the health center and receives no response before class, once proven that it was sent before school, that student should not be marked tardy or unexcused absence if they do not show up.

These are my ideas for a revised Wellness Day, which I believe should come back.