With Park’s recent addition of Action Thursdays to the Park Connections schedule, there are now a variety of activities for students to participate in instead of attending Park Connections. In room B322, English teacher Lindsey Meyer is leading a painting class. 

According to Meyer, Action Thursdays are beneficial to students.

“I love Action Thursday. I was part of the team who developed it,” Meyer said. “When I walk down the hall and look into rooms, there are students who are engaged, laughing, and having fun. I look at my Action Thursday and they are getting to do something that brings them joy. That’s what we need, for students to enjoy their passions and feel joyful.”

Freshman Freyja Flink said they feel positively about action Thursdays.

“It’s pretty fun, Park Connections (usually) gets boring very quickly with all the structure,” Flink said. “We don’t have a ton of painting supplies, but it’s still fun to do stuff with your friends.

Everyone is having fun and talking to each other, it’s really chill and they play music too.”

According to Meyer, Action Thursdays aim to provide more flexibility for students during Park Connections.

“We’re looking to give students a choice with structure,” Meyer said. “There are always things that get in the way, like attendance, but this gives kids a consistent place to go with some choice –  rather than being told, ‘for Park Connections you have to do this Powerpoint’ because kids have different needs and want different things.”

Her painting class offers a great sense of community to students who choose to sign up Meyer said.

“I want to give kids 35 minutes a week where they get to create something they like and get to laugh with their friends — to do something fun and be creative,” Meyer said. “I signed up because there were students who wanted to paint and they didn’t have a teacher. I don’t know much about painting, I’m not a painter. There’s no pressure about being good — you can just create something that makes you happy.”

To sign up for an Action Thursday class, log into the Student Support Time website and click on the three lines. Head to the ‘Action Thursdays’ section and scroll until you find a class.