An open meeting on the health and wellness survey results gave parents and students an opportunity to voice their concerns and suggestions to the administration.

After an initial meeting on the health and wellness survey results Oct. 15 with 80 attendees but no students, the administration held a second meeting on Oct. 23 which had 60 people, five of whom were students, to continue to discuss the results, questions and potential changes around the school.

The meeting took place in the Gordon Parks Assembly Hall and was open to the entire Lab community. After a presentation on the results of the survey from Health and Wellness Coordinator Betsy Noel, the floor was open for questions, which topics such as sleep, anxiety, homework load, extracurricular activities, pressures, and considering and attempting suicide.

Between parent questions, two of the five attending high school students commented on  problems like balancing extracurricular activities with the large load of homework while still leaving time for relaxation, and how students at U-High should work to combat the culture of perfectionism.

Some parents talked about the how students need sleep and if they have a strong sleep schedule the rest will fall into place. Peggy Lim, a high school parent and member of the Laboratory Schools board of directors, argued that, even though sleep is important, it’s not that simple.

“We cannot just tell our kids to go to sleep by a certain time,” Ms. Lim said.

Laboratory Schools Director Charlie Abelmann highlighted the importance of student input. He explained how students are the ones actually living the experience.

“It is still important to hear from parents and we want to hear from more of them. We do only have about 50 parents from the whole lab community which is a seriously small portion,” Dr. Abelmann said. “But most of all we do need to remember that our kids have voices and what they say matters.”