Exeter Academy Launches Mindfulness Course for Students

Exeter Academy is offering a new course this spring that asks students to slow down. EXI506: The Art of Slowing Down pairs meditation, free-writing, and contemplation against the school's typical fast-paced environment.

Chelsea Woodard, an English instructor, and Hannah Hofheinz, who teaches in the Religion, Ethics and Philosophy Department, designed the course to counter the pervasive influence of technology. Each class begins with two minutes of silence, a contrast to the 40-second median attention span that research from Gloria Mark at UC Irvine identified.

"The aim of the class is not production; it's process," Woodard said. Students complete handwritten assignments without technology and engage in contemplative discussions aligned with the school's Harkness teaching method.

Hofheinz said technology creates a "real vortex that's a challenge for students and teachers alike." Szu-Hui Lee, the school's director of counseling and psychological services, observed that demands on Exeter students keep intensifying. Hofheinz noticed students struggling to concentrate since the pandemic began.

Woodard developed the course after speaking with poet Marilyn Nelson in October 2024. Nelson had taught a similar class blending poetry and meditation at West Point. Woodard, a poet and yoga instructor, drew on that model and on Patrick Rosal, a visiting poet at Exeter in 2024 who described poetry as a "practice of attention."

The course aligns with broader campus efforts to reduce screen time and improve mental health, including a wellness café during finals week and cellphone restrictions.