Some students have heard that a new wellness hub is coming to San Marin. A wellness hub would bring support to students. While the hub will offer resources to students in crisis, the main goal is to provide a safe space where students feel comfortable going when they feel overwhelmed or need a break. Currently, many students and teachers aren’t aware of what the hub will actually be, but most are excited that San Marin is addressing its students’ mental health.
Students and staff are eager for the hub to open. Teachers often see how much students struggle, and are glad San Marin is bringing positive change. English teacher, Madeline Panacci is especially hopeful about it, and how it will benefit students.
“Even if the hub isn’t perfect in its first iteration, the fact that it is being created, I think is a really positive step,” Panacci said.
Since COVID, Panacci feels that schools are not set up in a way that accommodates the issues brought on by the lockdown. She believes that it’s hard for a lot of teachers to watch their students struggle because they know that there’s not a lot of opportunity for change.
“The majority of teachers that work, in general, care about students’ well-being, but I think that the system we’re in doesn’t promote or allow actual change,” Panacci said.
(Clockwise) Audrey Whitten, Shanti Rachis, Erica Cifuentes Gutid, Ashley Ajqui, Lesly Sohom Garcia, Miguel Sanchez Jimenez, Mercy Galindo, Danna Ruiz, Denice Medina-Hernandez, and Melany Calderon Piedrusanta show off the paint color options for the new Wellness Hub.
Junior Erika Cifuentes Gudiel, a member of the student team working with Principal Jennifer Larson and Anna McGee to get the hub up and running, said that more information will be coming once the hub is closer to being done.
“We’re still in the process of decorating it, and making it so that students feel welcome when they come into the wellness hub when it is open,” Cifuentes Gudiel said.
Unknown to most students, Larson has been planning the wellness hub for about a year. She’s worked with a team of students on campus to get everything set up and they are opening the hub in May.
“It was about a year-long process, and what came out of that was a space on campus, where students felt like it was their space,” Larson said. “The reason we’re calling it a wellness hub is because…we wanted to be more like the centerpoint of our campus. We are a wellness campus, and this is just a place where students can come and go.”
