By Sabrina Agazzi and Keith Johnson, Staff Writers
// The Acalanes front quad buzzed as students played with animals, enjoyed free treats and practiced yoga. On Friday, Oct. 11 The Acalanes Student Support Board put on the annual Stress Busters event.
Stress Busters consists of a range of activities from enjoying free popcorn to playing with dogs and cats. During these activities students crowded around, ready to participate in the excitement. Instead of panicking about an upcoming class, they spent their lunch break having fun with their friends and learning tools to decrease their stress.
“The goal of this event is to promote wellness and help students take their mind off school. It is a fun time for students to relax and destress while also doing fun activities and having some tasty snacks.” member of the Student Support Board and sophomore Stella Bobrowsky said.
Acalanes is known for being highly competitive in academics, leading to a great amount of student stress. In order to combat this stress, the Student Support Board began to put on Stress Busters once a semester. This school year Leadership has recognized the success and enjoyment the event brought, causing it to be held every quarter instead.
Although the majority of these activities are great for relieving stress in the moment, many do not prevent students from feeling anxious in the future. The Student Support Board recognized this, thus they provided activities that students can do at home.
One way students can relieve stress at home is through yoga. Yoga and Physical Education teacher, Heidi Bruce, and Spanish teacher, Gretchen Schwab, taught students this activity during Stress Busters. The hope is that students will enjoy yoga and continue this stress-relieving activity at home.
Through all of these activities, Stress Busters allowed students to spend a lunch period prioritizing their wellness, instead of a letter grade.
“People get to relax about not having to do their school work all the sudden or not having to worry about that test sixth period,” senior and Leadership student Kat Acuff said.