By Nandana Rajesh, Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 1st marked Herndon High’s first Social and Emotional Learning day: A non-instructional day of fun for all students. Organized by the school’s Social and Emotional committee and led by English teacher Mrs. Johnson, this day entailed many special activities including, but not limited to, games, virtual escape rooms, karaoke, a presentation from a motivational speaker, a police dog demonstration, therapy dogs and more. The committee members and teachers are hoping that SEL day has helped all our students improve their mental health and let loose, if just for one day. “If all goes well, I think this will be a day that students can come to school knowing that they can catch their breath and can engage with friends and teachers in a way that they can’t usually do.” Mrs. Johnson said.
The activities were categorized by subject, such as the stem based game taking place during Science classes, or themed jeopardy in History. One of the main events was the Beautiful Tomorrow Assembly, by local artist Humble Tip, AKA Jason Lewis. Only juniors and seniors went to this assembly, however, Lewis was able to meet many students. HHS was even featured on his Instagram!
Unfortunately, the most anticipated event of the day—interacting with therapy dogs in the lecture hall—was canceled, much to the disappointment of many students. The police dog demonstrations did occur, but only in certain classrooms.
Despite this, SEL day may go on to be an annual event. “This is Herndon’s first All SEL day, so if it goes well, we will hopefully make it an annual event, and over the years it will get better and better!” Mrs. Johnson said. If we were to make All SEL day annual, it might be a good idea to give the therapy dogs another chance, since many students were looking forward to that the most.
In addition, this SEL day took place on a religious observance day, Chinese New Year. This was to the benefit of teachers, who didn’t have to lose an extra instructional day. However, the students who were celebrating Chinese New Year were unable to participate since they stayed home. In the future, All SEL day might better be held during a separate day, so that all students have the opportunity to participate.
All SEL day was a great idea with good intentions, however, it may have been better if all of the events promised occurred. We hope that next year we are able to repeat the day with more events that could make the day even better.