High school students often wonder, “when will this class ever be useful to me after this year?” It is frustrating to learn something that may never be of importance to you ever again.

Seniors in Body and Mind, however, experience the benefits of the material they are learning firsthand.

The first semester of Body and Mind is set up like any regular science class. Students take notes, read from textbooks and packets, and have class discussions.

“The first two quarters were really hard because the readings were really dense,” senior Ashley Olaffson said. “We used AP textbooks and the terms were difficult.”

The class covers a wide range of topics, some of which are also taught in other classes at the high school. However, Body and Mind puts a different focus on them.

“I did the nervous system in Psychology class, and it was completely different,” Olaffson said. “It’s a unique way you learn the material. We go into details about different things.”

The second semester of the course is unconventional. Classes during the second semester often take place in the wrestling room where teacher Mary Angione leads yoga and tai chi.

“We spend a lot of time actually doing what she’s teaching us,” senior Eli Davis said.

For Davis, yoga is the best part of taking the class.

“It doesn’t seem like it’s a workout, but when you start doing it, you can feel the burn everywhere, and you can get in the zone with it. In the middle of school,” Davis said, “that’s pretty cool.”

Students are taught ways to slow down breathing by doing certain techniques and stretches.

“We’ve been doing some yoga, some tai chi and some meditation,” Angione said. “I sort of try to mix it up so people have a feel for different possibilities. Usually, people like one thing and maybe not the other. Some people like yoga because you move more; some people like meditation because they like being still.”

Davis said he now knows how to clear his mind when he is stressed or angry. Students in the class have also kept a sleep journal for a period of time, tracking the times they go to sleep and wake up.

“We can enter the data into a database and see how it compares to other students your age,” Angione said. “People think they know how much they sleep, and then it’s interesting to look at it. A lot of times, people sleep more than they think, but it’s mostly because they are making up time on the weekends or with naps.”

Students are able to make several observations on themselves and the way they do certain things in comparison to others.

“It’s like just shining a flashlight on a behavior and seeing if people notice,” Angione said.

All the students taking the class are seniors. According to Davis, the class starts to feel like a community where people are free to express themselves and their thoughts. Angione likes the freedom she has to change the class structure according to how the students respond to the material.

“I can change things, and I get to know my students in a way that’s a little bit different from a class where there’s material that I have to teach,” Angione said. “So I like that, I think that there’s a relationship that gets developed between the students.”

Students in the class keep an “appreciation journal” and often share their entries with the rest of the class each day.

“It was a nice thing to do because it allowed people to focus on the positive things in their lives, not just focusing on what’s bothering them,” Olaffson said. “I don’t know any other science class that allows you to focus on your mind and get to discuss and appreciate things versus just taking notes on something.”

According to Olaffson, Body and Mind makes science very personal and applicable to the students who take it.

“It is a great thing for students to focus their minds away from homework and stress,”  Olaffson said, “and be able to focus on something that makes them happy.”

Sophia Rintell can be contacted at [email protected].