By Isabella Dino
Special to the Alpine Mountaineer
There is a room on the campus, tucked away from the clamor of passing periods and the weight of assignments. The chairs are comfortable. The music is soft. The door, when it closes, muffles the world outside. This is Rim of the World High School’s Wellness Center – a space for the overwhelmed, the anxious, the overworked. A space to breathe.
Adolescence is not a slow thing. It does not wait. There are AP classes to pass, siblings to care for, jobs to clock in to and futures to assemble from the clutter of expectations.
The Wellness Center offers students a comfortable place to sit, relax and regroup.
“Students’ lives are so vastly different,” says Jennifer Jones, one of the center’s therapists, “but most are bombarded with schoolwork and, because of that, they become stressed and disillusioned.” The Wellness Center, she explains, exists as a reprieve, a place where students can “unwind and destress,” where they can learn to hold onto peace even after they step back into the hallway.
The most common reasons students seek support here, she says, are stress and bullying. “In high school, everyone is so caught up in the busyness of their lives – whether it be due to their workload or home life – they become mean to each other.” It is easy to forget that everyone else is struggling, too, that the person who snapped at you in first period may be carrying their own invisible weight.
Jones and her colleague Laura offer general therapy for students. There are breathing exercises, quiet moments, the reassurance of someone listening. The center itself is designed for calm: dim lights, soft music, plush seating. “We want students to feel comfortable,” Jones says.
Comfort was what led her here in the first place. In high school, it was her psychology teacher’s classroom that became her own version of a wellness center – a place where she could be heard and helped. “That ultimately guided me to studying psychology and helping students, just like my teacher.” Now, she sits across from students who remind her of herself, offering them what she once needed.
A bookcase is full of games, books and brochures for the students to use.
“I enjoy the work of guiding students to be the best ‘them’ that they can be,” she says. “Life journeys are so individual that it’s unfair to label one person’s life as ‘wrong’ and another’s as ‘normal.’ The variety of people is such a beautiful thing. Nobody will ever have the same life as anyone else, and that is part of the art of living. I just help provide students with the tools they need to make that art.”
The Wellness Center does not promise answers. It does not erase the pressures of being young in a world that demands so much, so soon. But it does offer something else: stillness, for those who need it. And a reminder, in the quiet, that they are doing better than they think.
“You are doing great,” Jones says, when asked what advice she would give to students who are struggling. “Too many kids are so caught up in what other people are doing that they often feel left behind or less than, which is unfair. Life is different for everyone yet difficult for everybody. Sometimes, just being here is something to be proud of.”
Isabella Dino is a senior at Rim of the World High School.
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