Introducing Overlake's new Health and Wellness team
Overlake is focusing heavily on the work of the strategic plan this year and one exciting way we are making progress is with the creation of the Health and Wellness team. The intention is to drive and oversee the work of the well-being pillar of the strategic plan and continue providing excellent care to our students.
The new Health and Wellness team has five current faculty and staff members. Dr. Samantha Hillyer (’01) is now the Director of Health and Wellness and will lead the team efforts. Kim Stevens M.A. LAT, ATC, Athletic Trainer, Joey Swidler, Strength and Conditioning Coach, Kristina Rey, Arts Faculty, and Laura Triebold, Physical Education Faculty are all now a part of the Health and Wellness team.
When looking at the work already done under the strategic plan and newly gathered information from the Employee Engagement Survey and the High Achieving Schools Survey (HASS) completed by students, it became clear that there were gaps in the area of well-being.
“We have to set the tone and address the things we’re seeing in the HAAS survey coming from our students. We need to address those early and give those students tools for well-being early in their development here,” says Hillyer. To help focus on the Middle School, Rey, Arts Faculty, will be adding the additional role of Middle School SEL Program Coordinator to her plate. Rey has a background in SEL which she utilized at her previous school. She is excited to direct her efforts to Overlake and focus on bringing wellness programming to Middle School students.
Swidler will be adding to his role, and taking on work related to employee well-being. “This shows a tangible step in us taking well-being seriously at the school,” Hillyer says. “We really believe in our strategic plan and these changes are super positive. The school cares about this and we want to make moves because we care deeply about the well-being of our students and employees.”
The team has several things they will be working towards this year in relation to our strategic plan. The new Middle School programming will integrate the RULER approach to SEL work and continue the well-being work already being practiced in the Upper School. The team will also be leading student focus groups to better understand what well-being means to them in the context of school. This will complement the work faculty and staff did last year helping define well-being at work. After these focus groups, the school will release Overlake’s definition of well-being which will guide the work of the strategic plan.
“This work is real and something that we do need and care about deeply,” Hillyer commented. “The students are recognizing that well-being is such a big part of their experience here.”
Also new this year are three Purple air quality sensors that monitor outside air quality in addition to air quality indicators in most major buildings on campus. The readings on these outdoor sensors can be viewed at any time at the link in your parent portal. These air quality indicators are part of the effort to care for the health and safety of students on our campus. Later this fall the team plans on rolling out vision screenings in Middle School. Although these screenings are not required at independent schools, Hillyer says, “as the gold standard, we want to provide the best possible care to the whole person that we can.” Look for more information on those screenings coming soon.
In addition to these new changes, the team will continue to provide exemplary support the team continues to provide the students in their everyday health, athletic support and injury recovery, health training, coaching, and pandemic monitoring. For more information about Overlake’s health policies visit overlake.org/health.
Hillyer shares that she looks forward to the work this newly formed team will do this year and beyond. “I’m just really proud that this is a very tangible step in getting some of the work done. It feels very collaborative.”