ZenCity

Great article about a long term Harvard study on happiness and success - the key things we say we want most for our children. The lives of all three cohorts repeatedly demonstrated that it was social aptitude sometimes called emotional intelligence not intellectual brilliance or parental social class that leads to a well-adapted old age. .... successful aging means giving to others joyously whenever one is able, receiving from others gratefully whenever one needs it, and being greedy enough to develop one's own self in between.

Hi from ZenCity! We hope everyone had a great summer and has settled back in to the school routine. This summer ZenCity hosted its 3rd year of Camp Rise. We had over 40 incoming sixth graders attend camp held at Steger. These kids worked hard over three days meeting new friends, getting to know Steger, and learning skills to help them cope with some of the unease that comes with starting middle school. We are so thankful to the parents who made participation possible and to the counselors who ran camp this year.

Mindfulness and meditation can be life saving, literally. My 17 year old told me last night about how the coach taught the boys how to meditate and that's why they could control their anxiety to not breathe too rapidly with the oxygen tanks during the rescue. This was vital to the success of the mission to get them out. Going into it the divers were very concerned about the fear and anxiety of the boys and how quickly they would use up their tanks.

One of today's cute pups was Sassy! Thanks for visiting us at Pause for Paws and hopefully we'll see you again at mid-terms in December.

We are having so much fun during Pause for Paws at WGHS this week. Thank you to the Animal Protective Association of Missouri (APA) for providing dogs and their people! Everyone enjoyed loving on Dakota and Mellie today!

ZenCity is happy to announce that Pause for Paws is back for finals at WGHS! On Tuesday through Thursday from 9-9:30am in Room 286 students can come pet a pup and chill for a few minutes before tackling their second final. It is anxiety time for our teens and cute dogs are a great way to relieve the stress of finals! Thanks to the APA for providing the dogs once again.

Great article on the impact of social emotional learning skills for student engagement. Immordino-Yang called it "biologically impossible to think deeply about things that you don't care about " in an interview with The New York Times. She is releasing a book "Emotions, Learning and the Brain." https://www.educationdive.com//dr-immordino-yang-s/418632/