Solon High School created The Wellness Center to give students a safe and non-over stimulating environment to get work done or to relax or chat with friends during their free periods before or after school. Many students have agreed that the Wellness Center is a calm place that aids in relaxation and academic success.

As holiday break came to an end and school started, students who utilized the space to do their work said they were excited to go back- however, upon going to the Wellness Center, students, specifically seniors, were met with new guidelines.

The new guidelines are as follows:
1. Sign into the Senior Commons.
2. Sign up on the sheet that allows 20 people to go to the Wellness Center.
3. Wait until what is supposed to be the bell rings to walk down to the Wellness Center.
4. End up waiting five minutes at least after the bell.
5. Wait until Dustin Lyons finds all the seniors on the list.
6. Get walked down the hall by Lyons.
7. Wait outside the doors as they call students one by one.
8. With whatever time is left over in the short study hall, students can finally relax.

There are some very apparent problems with this process, the main one being that if someone is in a lunch period (4a–5b), they’re only getting about 15 minutes out of 25 to study, relax, or do whatever they want with their time.

As a senior dealing with this, I was upset. I sat down with Michelle Shane, the creator and director of the Wellness Center here at Solon High School, to learn more about the changes.

Q: Do you think, given the original purpose of the Wellness center, it’s serving its purpose, or if it’s not, is there any reason why it’s not?

A: I think it’s a good start, like from last year to this year. Last year, kids couldn’t even be in here, so I think this is a good start. I do think there are things we can do to improve – we’re looking at bringing in the police social-emotional dog so that kids have that, and maybe starting some art therapy classes. So I think there is room for improvement, but I think this is a good first step.

Q: So obviously, the precautions or process of getting into the Wellness Center have gotten a little bit stricter, and sometimes it takes a little bit longer. Do you think it impedes or takes students’ time away from their study hall or other downtime they could be having?

A: I do. I think the stricter stuff was put in because kids were not following the rules, so if kids start following the rules, I think it might get streamlined a little bit better. There’s definitely room for improvement. I think that there is a little bit of a waste of time and getting down here, especially during lunch periods which are shorter, but it’s definitely something we can reevaluate, and look at moving forward.

Q: Do you think that there’s a better solution moving forward?

A: I think this is the first year, and it always takes some refining to get it to where it should be. It’s the same way with the students – this is all new and a new procedure, and I think it could take longer. Are there things we could do to streamline that? Yeah probably. So that is something that we’ll look at. When I meet with the administration, it’s definitely something we could talk about.

Q: Do you have anything else to add?

A: Just come to the Wellness Center!

Below is a different perspective from a student at Solon High School, Maureen Bauza, who explains her frustrations with the new rules.

In the next few years my hope is that students will be responsible enough to get their allotted time and the school will make this the Wellness Center best experience they can.