Since 2022, GDS has run a mental health teach-in day each winter. This year, GDS replaced the day with Wellness Week.
Wellness Week, which ran from Feb. 2 to Feb. 6, was a series of events aimed at raising awareness about mental health at GDS. Headed by school counselors Gabrielle Holder and Pryndall White, workshops and activities took place each day, culminating in the Variety Show—similar to a talent show—during Friday’s assembly time.
While Wellness Week was new to GDS this year, its origins were not. Four years ago, a group of over 30 students who were passionate about mental-health awareness banded together to organize the first Mental Health Teach-In Day.
But as that group graduated and their numbers dwindled, responsibility fell on the shoulders of GDS’ staff.
“It ended up just being a big lift for a couple adults who are doing all this work and not having buy-in on it,” Assistant Principal for School Life Quinn Killy, who helped plan the week, said.
Killy said it became difficult for such a small group to organize a single day. This year, they tried a new format.
“We thought, well, let’s try doing a week where instead of interrupting classes or trying to do all this programming, let’s try and do a week where we have events every day,” Killy said. He added that he hoped future mental-health events would garner interest like the first few teach-in days had.
Headlining Mental Health Teach-In Day last year was guest speaker Chris Herren. Herren is a former NBA player who dedicated his life to spreading awareness about substance abuse. The rest of the day was filled with mental health–focused workshops.
A new addition to last year’s teach-in day was the Variety Show, put on by the Student Staff Council. The Variety Show existed before the pandemic, but had not been brought back until 2025.
“It was a way to lighten up people’s days,” SSC President Grace Khuzami said. “Assemblies are usually very serious talks and things like that, so it’s just a way to make it a little bit more lighthearted.”
Librarian Rhona Campbell said she led a workshop about picture books during prior teach-in days. Campbell said the workshop gained popularity outside the teach-in day, and participants eventually formed the Picture Book Reading Group. While the club ran in the 2024-25 school year, it no longer exists.
Seven people interviewed by the Bit struggled to remember what happened at last year’s events. Eight people remarked on low attendance during last year’s teach-in day and a lack of student participation during this year’s events.
“I think the day was interesting,” senior Mars Piper said of last year’s teach-in day. “But for the workshops, a lot of people don’t show up.” Piper said they thought students chose not to show up because of a lack of interest in the workshops.
For this year’s Wellness Week, students could attend workshops on breathwork and meditation. Two therapy dogs, Pru and Hawkeye, also visited GDS.
Hawkeye is an emotional support dog at Sandy Springs Friends School (SSFS). Freshman Alexandra Asher, who attended middle school at SSFS, said she was glad to see that Hawkeye and Pru had a positive impact on the GDS community.
“A lot of the students I saw, who were a lot of people who I’ve never seen really interact with animals, really love the dogs,” Asher said. “They’re very beneficial to students’ mental health and lowering their stress.”
Sophomore Maceo Lindsey said he also liked the dogs but thought the other events could have been advertised more. “It’s interesting how we’re focusing on doing stuff for the whole week, but I feel like it wasn’t planned out the best,” he said.
Lindsey said he did not see much student participation at the events throughout the week. He said he thought students would have been more likely to participate had the school advertised the workshops outside of just schoolwide emails.
Killy emphasized student input as a way to decide coming years’ mental health–related events. He said he hoped to place less of a focus on having a set day or week for learning about mental health, but rather on incorporating wellness events throughout the year.
Freshman Alexandra O’Brien said that although she liked some of the events, she thought that because they were one-off events, they didn’t have much of a lasting impact on the student body. “It didn’t really help the community, but it helped me to pet a dog,” she said.