LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) – Dozens of Lafayette employees and students went from Tuesday July 6 to Friday July 9 to focus on friends, fun and feelings. The company launched its very first social and emotional learning summer camp.

Meditation, Tai Chi, the Arts, and Dog Therapy are just a few of the many ways that Lafayette School Corporation staff and students learn these skills. This summer social and emotional learning camp is for children from grades 1 to 8. The goal is to find positive ways to deal with different emotions.

“It just helps the students to know what they are feeling and why they are feeling it and I have learned as a teacher, if the students are going through something, they are not in a place where they can learn,” he said. said Lindsay Nunan, grade 7 language arts teacher at Tecumseh Junior High.

She has been involved in the organization of this camp for two years. With all these various hands-on activities, she hopes that the students will find what is right for them.

“A strategy that might work very well for my mental health might not work very well for someone else and vice versa,” Nunan said. “We want kids to know that they can sort of choose different things that work really well for them.”

Nunan also hopes it breaks the stigma of what it’s like to take care of your mental health.

“You can play while helping mental health, it’s not supposed to be that dark and serious thing, it’s not just like therapy, you can play and have fun and record yourself,” Nunan said.

“I thought it was going to be like a bunch of drills like camp, but it’s actually really, really fun,” said Madelyn Vandervate, a 5th grade student at Lafayette Sunnyside Intermediate.

“I’m just thinking of those kids who will one day enter the workforce and have all these tools,” Nunan said. “Like, yeah, all of those memories and such a fun week, but I really hope they come away with a lot of tools and strategies.”

This camp consisted of 65 students and 13 teachers. Teachers have spent this school year choosing which students they think could benefit the most from this camp, but all students have been invited to attend.