Dominique Cimini, a junior psychology major at Le Moyne College, had an immediate reaction when asked about Wednesday’s first-ever Wellness Day at the school, where almost no classes will be held.

“Oh my God,” she said. “Big yes.”

Cimini said she works 30 hours a week outside of her classes, and she said the combined pressures of her life can often feel like “three tons of weight.” Her big plans for Wednesday:

She’s hoping to sleep in until at least 1 p.m.

The idea for the Wellness Day came from a group of students in 2021 that recommended the event and several other ideas for looking after the mental health of fellow students after a suicide devastated the Le Moyne community, according to Anne
Kearney, dean of student well-being.

There will be no classes held on the Wellness Day, Kearney said. She said, however, that throughout the day there will be activities available around campus, courtesy of the Wellness Center, intended to help students relax.

These events include a “stress free zone” that will be located in James Commons from 11 a.m to 2 p.m., and a mindfulness for beginners session in the Palony Studio from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.

The regularly scheduled classes in spin and yoga that are held by the Wellness Center in the Athletic Center will still be available, Kearney said.

The main goal of this Wellness Day is for the students of the college to step back from their classroom burdens, she emphasized.

According to Kearney, “We are hoping that students will really give themselves permission to take a day off and do a check in with themselves to discern what it is they really need to do on that day.”

While many students appreciate the thought, they said the extra day to study helps relieve stress from the classroom, in itself. For instance, Nayeliz Ramirez, a freshman, said she is grateful for the day off because she hopes to use the time to prepare for an exam in history.

However, while most students have the day off from classes, this doesn’t apply to sports practices and many extracurricular meetings or obligations that remain scheduled for the day, which several students – knowing they have to honor those commitments – said detracts from the goal of the Wellness Day.

In an email, Kearney wrote that with the event so new, it might be that “not everyone is on the same page.” She wondered if a solution might be in having the Le Moyne Student Government Association take up the question of what constitutes a Wellness Day, maybe by having the SGA’s mental health section “address it with college leadership.”

Cimini, for her part, said the Wellness Day is a welcome addition to the schedule. Since the pandemic, she said, the demands of life often seem like “you’re climbing a hill and once you get up it you see another hill and then another hill after that.”

So she appreciates this Wellness Day, in a major way, and she has a suggestion for Le Moyne:

She hopes there will be even more Wellness Days, with each new semester.