Dear Saint Ursula Community,

I hope that you and your family were able to enjoy some of the beautiful weather over the weekend.  Lelia and I are among the many snow day lovers in the building, but if we can’t have a snow day, we might as well enjoy these previews of spring!

Last Friday, at our morning faculty and staff meeting, students from the Mental Health Alliance presented some results from the Connectedness Survey that we administered several weeks ago to our students.  First, the fact that our school is seeking input and data from students about their sense of connectedness and belonging speaks volumes about our commitment to the school’s mission to foster a “welcoming, respectful, and diverse community.”  It was impressive how the student representatives presented the data to their teachers and staff and provided their own insights into what it meant.  Hearing the students’ voices around these topics was so beneficial!

In general, the students across all grades felt that “academics and homework” were the greatest sources of their stress, which perhaps is to be expected given that they are currently full-time students.  Interestingly, the level of stress reported in these areas declined from last year to this year. The students spoke to the difference between healthy and unhealthy stress.  They were able to explain that healthy stress is a part of life:  it is short-lived and can inspire, motivate and even enhance performance as it helps to focus your energy.  They recognized that stress can be unhealthy, or result in distress, when it is persistent, takes your energy, and decreases performance due to anxiety and poor concentration.  

Our counseling department is an amazing resource at SUA.  As a follow-up to this presentation, they shared this information with the faculty, and I think it is important that you are aware of these initiatives as well:  “As we continue to prioritize the well-being and holistic development of our students, we have identified a need to address the challenges associated with perfectionism that some students may be experiencing. We understand that the pressure to achieve can be overwhelming, and we are committed to providing additional support to help them navigate these feelings.  In light of this, we introduced a new initiative – a counseling small group specifically designed to help students cope with and overcome perfectionism. The goal of this group is to create a supportive environment where students can share their experiences, learn coping strategies, and develop a healthier perspective on achievement. Small group interventions for perfectionism have been shown to have clinically significant effects in the reduction of perfectionistic behavior.  In addition, action steps were made following the results of the connectedness questions on the survey. Counselors, specifically, addressed the needs of their individual students who indicated feelings of being disconnected and we developed a small group to help foster relationships and connections within our freshman class.”  

As you receive this Parent Bulletin, our students will be on the eve of exams and all of the culminating work that comes with the end of the term.  In the Sunday Message, I encouraged students to think about the difference between healthy vs. unhealthy stress and talk with a parent, trusted adult, or a SUA counseling team member if they need help navigating stress or just some coping strategies for a really busy time. Thank you for all of the support that you provide your daughters in learning productive, healthy ways to address stress.  We love our students and want to do all that we can to equip them to be strong, independent, resilient young people.

Go Bulldogs!

Kathy

Here is the updated two-week calendar.  Please remember that we will dismiss at 1:25 pm on Friday, March 15, in order for our faculty and staff to participate in Professional Development.