Upper School Symposium addresses mental health

By Vinay Karthik '25

Biannually, the W+H Upper School community holds a symposium to discuss and engage in presentations and activities regarding a significant global issue. This year the W+H Teenage Mental Health and Wellness Symposium was held on April 12, 2023, offering students a range of opportunities to discover and promote self-care, mindfulness, and positive thinking in their community.

The symposium addressed a very relevant topic for the student population in the Upper School, with mental health challenges and issues being common among teens, arising from different sources such as school, extracurricular activities, and relationships. It was very timely considering the isolation created by social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid change from online to in-person learning last year, adding to the stress and anxiety of students and faculty.

Mrs. Nicole Nolan, History Department Chair and Director of Global Scholars and Community Outreach, said, “I hope our community, both students and faculty, were able to gain an understanding about the various facets of their mental health and wellbeing, and that who we are as individuals grows and changes for our whole life. Having the knowledge and tools to navigate those changes, the ups and downs, and the ability to maintain a balanced well-being, can set each of us up for the highest potential for success.”

After a few opening remarks, the symposium kicked off in the Berry Performing Arts Center with a Community Groundbreaking activity where Ms. Henna Tailor, Middle School math teacher, played sound bowls on the stage to relax the audience, creating a positive atmosphere for the rest of the day.

During a keynote presentation, Sarika Agarwal from Minding Your Mind shared her difficult yet inspiring story of struggling and coping with her depression and anxiety while engaging the audience with a little humor.

Students were then able to choose three morning sessions on topics including LGBTQ Resources for Mental Health, Acupuncture Demo and Talk, Athletics Four Pillars: Environment, Motivation, Vision and Identity, Eating Disorders, Signs of Suicide, Social Media and Mental Health, Ending the Silence, and Relationships: The Good, the Bad and the Abusive.

After a comfort food lunch, two afternoon sessions provided several fun activities such as Yoga, Animal Flow, Art, Meditation, Window and Sidewalk Decorating, and Zumba. There was a lot of positive feedback and energy from students throughout the symposium and many truly found the content useful and informative.

“My favorite highlights of the symposium were the keynote speaker and the resource table!” Emma Herko ‘25 said. “The keynote kicked things off well, being amusing yet informative and keeping the audience engaged, and the resource table was a big hit that helped spread the purpose in fun ways.”

The symposium came to a strong conclusion with an advisory gardening activity where students “planted the seeds of their mental health.”

The Teenage Mental Health and Wellness Symposium would have not been as successful and productive without the hard work and dedication of the symposium committee team since the beginning of the year. Led by Mrs. Nolan, the Symposium Team included faculty members Ms. Dina Congregane, Ms. Zoe Bongiovanni, Ms. Samantha St. Victor and Mr. Ryan Oliveira, and students Aadithya Srinivasan ’24, Amelie Leu ’25, Naischa Puri ‘23, Anushka Dalal ’24, Christian Bacalhau ’23, Emma Herko ’25, Giselle Lee ’23, Heidi Pan ’24, Isabella Rovito ’24, Italia Penevolpe ’25, Raiya Patel ’24, Samson Ajayi ’23, Siddharth Bharadwaj ’24, Sofia Romero ’26, and Vinay Karthik ’25.

“You can take care of your mind the same way you would take care of your body,” Mr. Oliveira said. “Focus on prevention over reaction. If you take care of yourself as an individual, you have a much higher chance of avoiding illness and more importantly, a higher chance of being happy.”