Mill Road Elementary made its half school day May 20 a “Buddy Wellness Day.” With younger classes paired up with their older “buddy” classes, the students rotated through four outdoor activities designed to encourage physical fitness and wellness. The students ran and walked laps on the grass behind the school, took a walk through the woods on the school’s nature trail, used chalk to create sidewalk art outside the building’s two main entrances, and built birdfeeders in the garden. The students slathered used toilet paper rolls with SunButter and birdseed to make their birdfeeders.

Wellness has been a focus of the school district at all for students of all grade levels. This year alone, the district held its inaugural Wellness Fair at Mill Road and debuted a balance bike unit to encourage students to spend more time outdoors, instituted new classes at the high and middle schools aimed at arming students with coping and organizational skills, and will soon debut a new mural outside the high school as part of a push to revive its healing garden, among other measures.