1st Panther "Pause" Session

Today, we held our first Panther "Pause" Challenge session. Well, that is, it's labeled first. Our real first one was our introductory session, which was on Thursday. But we're glad to say that it went well again! Students learned about the brain and how stress and mindfulness play into it, as well as a few mindfulness practices. 

The first activity we held was for the students to make a play-doh brain, as a lead-up to learning about the different parts of the brain. We taught students about the limbic system and prefrontal cortex afterwards, using a hand model to illustrate the brain. 

Next, we recapped what the definition of mindfulness was. Students offered responses like, "Staying in the present," or "Not worrying about anything that happened or is about to." They also referenced the book, The Mindful Teen, which they were suppose to read for this session.  

We also talked about the survey they took after the introductory session: the survey to measure their level of mindfulness. Many of them were surprised at their results, and said so in the discussion. We will be using this data to measure their level of mindfulness before and after the sessions. 

We thank everyone who was there for participating, and hope people have a mindful Monday!