By Kathryn Lige, LCSW, Mindfulness Director at Kennedy Middle School (Redwood City, CA)
The drive to Kennedy Middle School is one of my favorite parts of the day. As the sun rises over the hills of the Bay Area Peninsula, I take a moment to enjoy some music, observe the trees, and set my intentions for the day. This small act of mindfulness is vital because, as the school’s mental health counselor and Mindfulness Director, my days can feel like a nonstop marathon.
Located in the heart of Redwood City, Kennedy Middle School boasts a diverse community with over 750 incredible students in grades 6-8. In my 3rd year at the school and 5th year in the district, I constantly strive to be forward-facing. But before partnering with WholeSchool Mindfulness, my schedule was packed with direct services, leaving zero space for strategic planning to nurture a mindful culture.
Middle school is a crucial chapter—full of academic challenges, social jitters, and the ongoing search for personal identity. We know that both students and staff can often feel overwhelmed and scatterbrained. While we already valued social-emotional learning, we didn’t yet have a cohesive, sustainable way to support everyone’s well-being.
To address this challenge, our principal and I embarked on a transformative partnership with WholeSchool Mindfulness. This collaboration has been instrumental in reshaping our approach to mental health and well-being at Kennedy. It wasn’t just about adding another program; it was about shifting our culture—starting with how I used my time:
A Day in the Life
- ~7:45 AM: Time to check my schedule and prioritize emails (the never-ending task!).
- 8:30 AM: Coordinate our Mental Health Team and meet with district and site staff for various student-related discussions.
- On Advisory days, I lead the whole school in Mindfulness-based Social-Emotional Learning (SEL), such as exploring the five senses or practicing mindful communication.
- 10:30 AM: Hold sessions for my caseload of clients
- On days Mindfulness Directors meet as a team, we participate in professional development about leading and facilitating mindfulness, connect in affinity groups, and discuss goals for spreading mindfulness at Kennedy.
- 12:00 PM: A moment to eat, hydrate, and breathe (if possible). On multiple days each week, students gather for Lunch Bunch or Wellness Club, which I advise!
- 12:30 PM: Pop into classrooms to lead SEL and mindfulness practices or continue client sessions.
- 3:15 PM: School ends, and I begin debriefing, self-reflection, and record-keeping.
- In planning for the next week, I prepare my mindfulness tip of the week in our staff bulletin!
- ~3:30 PM: Final meetings with administrators, conduct routine parent calls, or answer emails until 4 PM, 4:30 PM, or later!
Overall, the WholeSchool partnership is a game-changer. Work before the partnership included higher caseloads and less whole school interventions. By securing funding for an additional 10 hours of clinical staff support, the partnership gave me the capacity to be proactive and strategic.
Through this, I established our core year-one goal: Foundational Awareness. We moved away from the simple idea of “calmness” and established the unifying language for our entire school:
Mindfulness is Remembering to Pay Attention with Awareness.
This simple, shared definition now anchors all our school-wide mindfulness initiatives. To verify that the message is being received, we collected our pre-assessment data in November 2025, serving as our baseline for the program. The results were fantastic and completely validated our approach:
- Staff Buy-in is in a good place (n=40): Our goal of establishing understanding is successful! 31 out of 40 staff respondents (77.5%) defined mindfulness as “Paying attention on purpose to the present moment,” in a multiple-choice survey, showing a strong understanding of the core concept. Even better, 27 out of 40 staff members rated its value for their own personal well-being as high, at 4 or 5 (out of 5).
- Caregivers Are In! (n=13): A small sample of our parent and caregiver community is tremendously supportive. All surveyed caregivers (100%) agreed or strongly agreed that learning mindfulness would help them better connect with their children, highlighting a strong desire to apply mindfulness in families.
- Students Understand Mindfulness as Calm (n=551): While students highly value mindfulness for stress and focus—289 students (52.4%) place a high personal value on the practice—the data confirms that our focus on the foundational concept is the right priority for the rest of Year One, as a significant portion still connect mindfulness to “feeling calm all the time.” The good news? 384 students (69.7%) believe mindfulness should be used as a skill that helps everyone communicate better and manage stress, confirming that we’re building a true whole-school model.
The Vision
The beginning journey to cultivate mindfulness at Kennedy Middle School has been a transformative one for me personally. Since implementing our mindfulness program, I’ve noticed a marked shift in our school’s perception of mindfulness. The best indicator of success? I’ve had a teacher excitedly share how they integrated a practice in the classroom, and I’ve received appreciative feedback for emphasizing the importance of taking a breath during staff meetings.
By partnering with WholeSchool Mindfulness, we’re creating a more compassionate and connected community for our students, staff, and families. This ripple effect demonstrates that when you focus on the foundation, the entire school benefits, enabling everyone to find their center and embody mindfulness.