Students Reflect on Last Week’s Surprise Wellness Day
(Photo Allyson Frantz/The Gettysburgian)
By Alli Dayton, Staff Writer
On Tuesday, March 2 at 7:00 a.m., Gettysburg College students received an email from President Iuliano with a subject line reading “No Classes Today.” In the email, Iuliano stated that all classes were cancelled in an effort to give students an opportunity to “rest and recharge” during the designated Wellness Day. The day off of classes was meant to come as a surprise for the student body, and professors were told not to allude to it in their syllabi in order to lower the risk of students traveling outside the 5-mile radius with their extra time.
Some suggestions from Iuliano for activities during the Wellness Day included reading, resting, watching Netflix, and exploring the battlefields. On-campus organizations like the Office of Student Activities & Greek Life and the Center for Religious & Spiritual Life hosted a “Take a Break” event in the CUB ballroom that allowed students to paint pictures, obtain face masks and balloons, and walk through a prayer labyrinth.
Students shared their enthusiasm about the surprise day of relaxation. “I’m glad the administration recognized the importance of wellness and mental health,” Abby Hauer ’21 said.
Charlie Wingert ’24, echoed this excitement, explaining that “[the Wellness Day] was a pleasant surprise” for both him and his friends. Wingert said that he spent the day “catching up on sleep and doing extra homework” before “[spending] an hour at [his] on-campus job.” He also shared the sentiment that the students he saw outside “seemed much livelier” than usual.
But students also expressed that their day off was still busy because they hadn’t planned for the extra free time. Hauer, for example, had meetings with professors, an interview for the Fielding Center for Presidential Leadership Study, and ran a PLA review session because the students for that course had an exam the following day. She attributed her busy schedule to the lack of notice from the administration about the Wellness Day. In the future, Hauer hopes that the college will provide students with a few days’ notice so that they can fully reap the benefits of the free time.
Overall, she described March 2 as “a normal day.” She did enjoy, however, the “few wellness hours [she] spent exercising” at the Jaeger Center.
Thus, the surprise day off of classes led to different perspectives among the student body about how the college should approach mental health on campus during the pandemic.
