Wellness at the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science is many things. It is a system made to keep the students at MSMS healthy. It is a requirement for privilege plans. It is also easily avoidable.

Students track wellness hours on individual orange cards by recording the location and activity. For example, an entry would be the location of Stark Gym and swimming. Residential Advisors on duty sign off on the time the students leave, then again when the students get back. Students need nine points every nine weeks to move to a plan besides the Standard Privilege Plan. The first two hours in a week is one point, and every hour after that is an additional point.

However, I remember worrying about wellness and complaining to my seniors. To my surprise, they laughed. One senior just smiled down at me and said, “Don’t worry; wellness isn’t real.” I still remember the conversation, during which she told me to just go read a book in Stark until I got enough points. I was equal parts relieved to avoid working out and disillusioned that this school maintained such a broken system.

Elle McKenzie says wellness is necessary, but the system is flawed. She says, “I think that wellness is needed. Since our school is not a typical high school that requires gym, there is no way to be sure the students are staying active. My only complaint with it is that the points do not carry over each week. I find this system a hassle and think that one hour should equal one point.” She also said that she would be fine with a higher point requirement if it meant that one hour equaled one point.

On the other hand, some students believe that there can never be a flawless system for wellness. Shelbi Allen said, “I think that there will always be a way around the system with wellness. We’re smart people. That being said, they can’t and won’t get rid of a wellness system altogether.”

Makayla Raby is frustrated with the system of wellness system as a whole. “At MSMS, students have more important things to be concerned with than going to a wellness facility where they will sleep or goof off to get points. The students who care about going to the gym will go whether it is mandatory and the ones who do not care or are too busy will either not go and fail wellness or go but not do anything wellness-related.” This raises a valid point, and reflects many thoughts I’ve heard students verbalize about this issue. Makayla added that she feels that the current system puts too much of a burden on students already weighed down by tough classes and extracurriculars.

Personally, I support wellness, but have trouble every semester trying to put aside enough time to get the points. I could easily put aside an hour a week for wellness, but carving out two hours feels much more difficult. Theoretically, we should all get two hours of activity each week, at least. However, I feel like one hour a week of actual exercise will benefit the student body more than 10 hours of doing homework in Stark at the end of the semester. Like McKenzie, I would gladly accept a higher point goal if it meant one hour equaled one point.

Health is important, and I am glad that this school understands this. However, flexibility in wellness hours would make it easier for busy students to find their way to the gym and get some real work done. If you have any opinions or thoughts concerning wellness, comment below.

How do you feel about the current system for Wellness Points

• There is nothing wrong with the current system.
• It would work better with changes, such as 1 hour = one point.
• I wish we did not have Wellness at all.

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