After only a few months at Bronx Science, the school’s new social worker, Anthony Cogliano, has already made much progress in addressing students’ mental health — by making it an official part of the school day.

As a specialized high school, Bronx Science is notorious for its rigorous academics and competitive atmosphere; it’s a given that many of its students often sacrifice their schoolwork at the expense of their physical and mental health. Yet, between scrambling to finish class assignments, balancing extracurriculars, and making the effort to get enough sleep, it seems that adding anything else to a typical Bronx Science student’s already busy schedule would be impossible.

However, Cogliano is working to help students better strike a balance between work and leisure. He is adamant about opening resources to all students to ensure that they do not forget one of the most important aspects of high school, having fun. “I never see mental health as a problem. In fact, it affects everyone sometime in their life,” Cogliano contends. “It’s just the way that we deal with it that impacts us day-to-day.”

Starting in February 2018, Cogliano plans to host mental health sessions during 10th period, so that students have an opportunity to de-stress together. Conveniently taking place during 10th period, when a majority of students can easily get home afterwards, these sessions allow students to create time for relaxation without worrying about leaving school late and falling behind in their studies.

Cogliano hopes that these sessions will run much like SGI for academic classes, where teachers offer their students individualized help after school. Unlike for academic subjects, students will never be madated for this “SGI,” though all students will be welcome to come.

Mental health SGI differs most from usual SGI classes in that during these periods, small groups of students from all grades can come together to create an open forum to discuss personal and school-related issues with both Mr. Cogliano and their peers. Furthermore, Mr. Cogliano expects these sessions to foster a greater sense of community among students of all different grades, who would offer moral support and advice after listening to others during this time and vice versa.

In addition to helping students to destress by discussion, Cogliano hopes to teach students other methods to relieve anxiety, including muscle relaxation and aromatherapy, specifically introducing calming scents to students that would help them unwind from the external pressures of school.

“I would stay after school for Mental Health SGI. A lot of students in the school are really stressed and struggle to manage everything. If we learned how to relax and manage our stress, it would be really beneficial,” said Katherine Doss ’19.

“I work very closely with the school’s guidance counselors,” said Cogliano. “If a student is noticed to be struggling in a class, oftentimes, his or her guidance counselor will refer them to me to speak with them to see if anything else is wrong besides the material.”

Cogliano aims to hold a test run with some of these students as he explores the possible activities that he could carry during these meetings before officially setting a date for the first session.

Though he believes in the importance of addressing mental health, Cogliano notes how it is ultimately the student’s choice if they want to talk to him. “In the end, it’s only a person’s choice if they want to come to me or not,” he reasoned. “However, I’ll always try to make time for anyone who needs to talk to me about anything.”

“You’ll only be in school for so long, but how you treat yourself internally affects you for your whole life,” Cogliano also noted. “It’s important that a person maintains their mental health, because that lasts with them forever.”

So far, the mental health SGI program seems to have already generated much interest amongst the student body.

“I would stay after school for Mental Health SGI. A lot of students in the school are really stressed and struggle to manage everything. If we learned how to relax and manage our stress, it would be really beneficial,” said Katherine Doss ’19.

So stay tuned, Bronx Science, as Cogliano brings you a way to rest your minds.