As students approach the middle of the school year, many may feel overwhelmed with exams, project deadlines, and navigating complex feelings around the holiday season. Engaging with each other in a low-pressure, non-academic way can make a world of difference. Columbia Heights Education Campus’ (CHEC) CHEC Minds Matter (CMM), in Washington, D.C., brainstormed the perfect remedy to help their school community destress.

Club leaders planned a pre-Thanksgiving spirit week of fun relaxing activities from Monday, November 18, to Friday, November 22.

CMM’s president said that the club always tries to hold a spirit week or offer activities for students after a major academic checkpoint, such as receiving SAT scores or end-of-term grades. There are also first-year and transfer students who are still getting acclimated to their new school environment.

Some spirit week activities — like Thursday’s screening of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving — were more aimed at students. However, other events garnered attention and participation from students and staff alike! For instance, some staff kindly donated a few cups of hot chocolate to the club’s Monday morning sale (Anyone who wore a flannel got a free cup😉). Similarly, others completed Tuesday’s gratitude coloring sheet. The s’more-themed activity asked participants to fill out the following:

• Graham cracker #1 — What makes me strong?
• Chocolate — What makes me sweet?
• Marshmallow — What keeps me together?
• Graham cracker #2 — What makes me complete?

After self-care bingo on Wednesday, the club closed out their spirit week with journal decorating on Friday.📓

The spirit week helped cultivate social connectedness among the student body by allowing students to decompress with peers. The activities also encouraged students to reflect on the parts of their support system such as family, friends, and hobbies. This practice will help them build and strengthen their self-care routines and healthy habits.🧠

CMM hopes that students will carry positive memories of this spirit week into the future. The club looks forward to planning more spirit weeks as we ease into winter.❄️ The second semester, which starts in January, can be stressful for students, especially 12th-graders as they approach college application deadlines.

Cheers to CHEC Minds Matter for encouraging students (and staff!) to prioritize their mental wellness!☕️💙 We look forward to what other campaigns CMM has planned for the rest of the school year! In the meantime, keep up with CHEC Minds Matter on their Instagram, @weare_cmm.

Many thanks for supporting Our Minds Matter in DC Public Schools goes to the American Psychiatric Association Foundation, the DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), if: a Foundation for Radical Possibility, Risa Fund — and our network of individual donors and mental health champions like you.😊