Maggie Walker is a competitive and rigorous school, and it is easy to feel stressed. There is a standard of excellence placed upon students that can often feel overwhelming. Through mindfulness, students can find healthy ways to cope with stress. This is why the MLWGS Honor Council has instituted a Mindfulness Month. Their goal is to offer a variety of ways for students to practice mindfulness and develop a more conscious, positive outlook. There are one to two activities each week geared towards slowing down, resetting, and learning new ways to manage pressure and anxiety.

Last year, the Honor Council encouraged students to act with honor by holding a Mindfulness Week. The idea, developed by former Chair of the Honor Council, Alan Watts (‘22), initially seemed like a compelling way to promote honor at Maggie Walker, but the execution was disappointing. It was hard to get students excited about mindfulness activities when they were all crammed into five days, and the Honor Council representatives themselves were exhausted. This year, the activities are spread out over an entire month. The focus is also being moved away from preventing dishonorable etiquette and instead towards the importance of student mindfulness and self-awareness. Katie Hollister, current Chair of the Honor Council, says that “Being at school is so much more about the experience of learning, becoming more curious, discovering what you’re passionate about, and meeting new people, than aiming for perfection.” The goal of Mindfulness Month is to help students reflect on their own personal health, which will naturally move towards being more honorable, although that is not necessarily an immediate outcome.

Hollister believes that what may have started out as a relatively easy year can get tough around the second semester. Everyone is starting to burn out, and it is a trying time for most students, which is why staying mindful is more important than ever. The Honor Council wants to reinstill honor and mindfulness by reminding everyone the importance of reflecting on and being aware of one’s own health. 

It is hard to tell what changes Mindfulness Month has made in the student body since it is so new, but after receiving negative feedback from teachers and students last year about the rushed nature of Mindfulness Week, the MLWGS Honor Council has adapted in order to positively invite mindfulness into students’ lives. They are trying to shift more towards showing students what they can accomplish through guided meditation, calm movies, arts and crafts, and so much more. The first mindfulness workshop, Tranquility Tuesday, was a guided meditation and breathing exercise workshop in the library on January 31st, and according to Hollister, “people came up to [her] and said that they felt like they were calmer afterward and ready to take on the day.” 

With the Honor Council in control of Mindfulness Month, one might expect every activity to be tied to honor and discouraging cheating. While it may have appeared that way last year, now the Honor Council representatives have agreed that was a “naive” approach. Better mental health and better practices of mindfulness do not directly or immediately correlate to being more honorable, although they may certainly lead to that state of being over time. As Hollister said, “There are so many factors that play into one’s mental health, as well as one’s ability to be honorable.” Honor and mindfulness are not mutually exclusive, nor do they go hand in hand. Prioritizing mindfulness can eventually lead to acting with more honor, but it is not going to happen automatically. According to Hollister, “There is a correlation [between being honorable and being mindful], but there are also a lot of steps that have to happen in between in order to reach that correlation.” Becoming a more mindful and honorable person starts by reflecting on yourself and your actions and over time developing integrity and accountability. Before that though, students must prioritize their mental health, and the Honor Council hopes the Mindfulness Month is successful in that regard.