Attendance at one Newark high school is at almost 100% thanks to a new approach to dealing with students’ mental and emotional health, which has suffered since the pandemic.
University High School has a Calming Room — a lot of us would probably like that — a classroom that’s been turned into a calming environment with soft lighting, soothing colors, plants, and comfortable seating. It’s the work of volunteers from the International WeLoveU Foundation, like Kim Seymour. What do students do in the Calming Room?
“They can have academic focus, they can have someone there like social workers to help them with their emotional health,” she said, “and what we’ve seen through the calming room is improvement in reducing stress, a way that they can improve their concentration.”
But it also has a ping pong table and some exercise equipment if students have to blow off a little steam. And Seymour said it brings students together since they maintain it. They think of it as theirs. And just walking into it makes students decompress, she said.
“The color scheme has to be right. We put very relaxing and warm lighting, we also have pots that have plants because that creates an environment that can have fresh air and a way that they can be comfortable, and we have comfortable seating,” Seymour said.
She said the net effect of all this has been that students are more willing to communicate.
“They’ve been more open to talk about situations and issues and really seek help because of the space,” she said, “and so they’ve really appreciated having that feeling and having a more comfortable place where they can go to express themselves about help they need.”