Walk into Kristin Raucci’s classroom on Thursdays after school hours and it is transformed from an ordinary high school classroom into a spa-like setting, complete with low lighting, serene, healing music and meditative images on the whiteboard.

Ms. Raucci runs the Wellness Club, an after-school club at Pine Bush High School that focuses on reducing stress and promoting healthy habits in students. Sometimes staff members stop by too.

Everyone experiences stress – probably more so in the last year and a half than at any other time. That’s part of the reason Ms. Raucci is grateful this club is in place for this school year.

She explained that she started the club about five years ago by request.

“I gave a presentation at our Wellness Day and students asked why don’t we have a Wellness Club,” Ms. Raucci said. “I realized there is a need for kids to learn stress reducing activities and to feel connection.”

On Sept. 23, Ms. Raucci held her first meeting for the club this year. Two students showed up, Dylan, a freshman, and Gianna, a sophomore. Dylan and Gianna put yoga mats on the floor and stretched out on them. They closed their eyes and started breathing slowly and deeply, at Ms. Raucci’s direction. She instructed them in a soothing voice to let go of the stress at the top of their head, forehead, eyes, jaw – all the way down their bodies, to relax each part – their arms, legs, tops of their feet. Their breathing had lengthened from when they first started.

“Lengthening breathing helps you to let go of your stress,” said Ms. Raucci.

When this scan of their bodies was complete, the students rolled up their mats and headed to the meditation courtyard, an outdoor location between the hallways near the main entryway of the building and the auditorium. This courtyard was created by school counselors and nurses. There are small fountains and windchimes. It’s peaceful and quiet.

Ms. Raucci sat on a bench near her students and they talked about meditation, the quieting of their minds, staying focused on breath and calmness. The benefits of meditation include stress reduction, a lessening of anxiety and depression, increased focus, production and memory – all positive results.

Ms. Raucci set her timer for five minutes as she, Dylan and Gianna sat quietly, listening to the gentle sound of the wind chimes and the bubbling of the fountain. Five minutes felt long, the students said, after sitting quietly. It’s the perception of five minutes, said Ms. Raucci. Sitting quietly, five minutes seem to take a while. When we are busy, those five minutes fly by.

Dylan and Gianna said they have both done yoga previously and Dylan has also done meditation. They said they joined the club for the benefits it can bring.

Another benefit of the club is that you can stop in whatever weeks you are free. “You don’t have to commit to every week,” said Ms. Raucci. “If your game was canceled, stop in at Wellness Club.”

On top of the lighting structures in the meditation courtyard are the cairns, stacks of rocks made by people. These cairns are commonly seen on hiking trails, signs to other hikers that they are heading in the right direction. That’s very fitting for the Wellness Club as Ms. Raucci and her students are seeking calm and peace as part of their everyday lives.

Interested in seeing what Wellness Club has to offer? Stop by room 220 on Thursdays, beginning at 2:15 p.m.