Westside High School to Pilot Mindfulness App

Westside High School will begin to use the app Stop, Breath & Think in their classrooms beginning March 1st.

It all began during a staff meeting about mindfulness and student regulation when a teacher brought up the app, which is free to educators.

Principal Kory Kalahar said staff then reached out to the app's creators on an all-school level.

"Low and behold, they were looking for schools to apply for kind of a partnership pilot." Kalahar explained, "There were over 500 schools nationwide that ended up applying. We were one of 20 schools that were chosen to participate."

The app allows a student the opportunity to reset and enjoy a more concentrated, focused learning time after the student is triggered by something such as a situation at home, between friends or over social media.

"It's personalized for the student, but you can also use it at the classroom level." continued Kalahar, "It will have different brain activities. Sometimes it will have breathing strategies, or a gratitude activity. Sometimes it will be a way to calm yourself through a different exercise."

Classrooms will use the tool through their Chromebooks.

A class called 'Foundations', which is a graduation requirement, was a catalyst for the app.

In 'Foundations', students are educated on different learning types, personal characteristics, the limbic system, prefrontal cortex, and the fight or flight response among other concepts