The transition to Upper School includes many changes for fourth form students. One program, however, will come back from Lower School: wellness. The old fourth form wellness curriculum, Choices, provided an introduction to health, sex, and substance abuse education. After much reflection among faculty, numerous adjustments to the curriculum and format of the fourth form wellness program are being debated.

Choices was a program that started years ago, led by Director of Theater Laurie Sales and math teacher Cathy Lincoln. Last year, it was incorporated into the wellness department and was completely revamped. Lecturers came in from far and wide to speak about issues such as mental health awareness to Fourth Formers. About a week after each presentation, students would meet in groups of eight to twelve with different members of faculty to talk about the lecture. This happened for nine weeks, with three meetings respectively.

“When it was created it served its purpose well,” Director of Counseling Sheilaann Fritz-Ellis explained. Many teachers took time out of their schedule to participate and help ensure that students were well-informed about sex, substance abuse, and mental health.

This year a new program will replace Choices as the fourth form wellness program. Abigail Frantz, the director of this program, which has yet to be named, said, “my vision for the program is four-fold”. Areas that will be integrated into the curriculum include behavioral theory, Mindset by Dr. Carol Dweck (psychology professor at Stanford University), failing well and lastly, mindfulness. Ms. Frantz hopes specifically to draw from Mindset’s “growth mindset” idea in the program. The “growth mindset” is about taking risks and learning without worrying about failure. In reshaping the curriculum, she hopes it will be “practical, accessible and developmentally appropriate”.

The major reason why Choices was scratched from the wellness syllabus was that students and teachers believed that fourth formers were too old for the syllabus Choices taught. Learning about drug abuse or healthy relationships in fourth form was too late, as some elementary schools teach their kids this information in fifth grade. The program applied to the wrong people at the wrong time. Dr. Fritz-Ellis said, “many reported that they had either already talked [about it]… in a health class in their old school or that the topic was coming too late because they had already had to figure it out.”

Lily Cratsley ’19, who experienced Choices last year, said, “While I appreciated the wide range of topics discussed at Choices… [I had] learned about most of the content in non-academic settings. Thus, the information was important, but delivered too late in the wide scheme of adolescence.

This coming spring, Fourth Formers can look out for a new, fresh-faced curriculum. The new second and third form wellness programs were implemented last year, and now it is time to move that into Upper School. However, it will not be as much about a few specific topics, but a way of teaching students resilience.

Choices was a useful learning experience for Groton students. And though it is still a work in progress, the new program will hopefully educate students well. It will commence this Spring, so we will have to wait and see its impact.