SUNY Oswego introduced wellness days for the Spring 2021 semester for students. The goal for this was to allow for students to take care of their physical and mental health in the mid of the pandemic.
It was stated in the Spring 2021 Oswego Forward Plan that there would be no spring break due to COVID-19 and instead these days would be provided to give a break from coursework. The school provided different resources for students to utilize such as wellness coaching, getting healthy nutrition tips and career services.
The first wellness day was on Wednesday, Feb. 25, and there will be another on Tuesday, March 23. In a way this was helpful but at the same time it did not serve much purpose. If a student had a busy class schedule on one of these days, then they would get a break and that would be nice.
Since it was only one day, I think it was used as more of a homework catch-up day rather than a day to relax and focus on mental and physical health. I personally did not have any classes during the first wellness day, so it was like a normal day for me where I caught up on my work. I did not really see it as a day to focus on my mental health. If the day was a Monday or Friday, that could have been more beneficial since it would be like a three-day weekend.
The wellness days were in replace of a spring break. However, giving two random days off is not equivalent to having a week long spring break. If the SUNY Oswego administration gave us a handful of days off it would probably be better but since it is just two random days, they are basically just normal days used to do homework.
I have heard from other students that it was nice to have a day off and not have classes. It probably was not helpful enough to have a positive impact on a student’s mental health. I agree with this, I think if you are stressed and have a busy schedule, it is nice to have a day off every now and then. But since it is one day, it might not have been extremely beneficial to focus on all of the things that make someone physically and mentally healthy.
I can understand how everyone would be more stressed with a lot of courses being online and adjusting to life post-COVID so it makes sense that the campus would want to relieve stress from students. I think these wellness days could be something students enjoyed or thought was unnecessary. It would really depend on the student’s own personal life and schedule and what they decide to do with their day off.
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