By Karla Daniels, Staff Writer, MSU Spokesman
Adoniyahu Yashaahla is a 20-year-old junior psychology major at Morgan State University. He takes 17 credits each semester while performing with the Magnificent Marching Machine.
Yashaahla manages his workload well but said he sometimes loses track of time.
“When a wellness day comes up, it’s pretty good because I can reset,” Yashaahla said. “I check my calendar and plan ahead.”
During wellness days, university administrators cancel classes for all students, and no assignments or exams are due. Since 2021, wellness days have occurred once a month during the semester, except in March and November.
For Yashaahla, the days provide time to catch up on missing homework, play basketball or practice trumpet — hobbies he said help him “relax and reset.”
Students like Yashaahla are encouraging the administration to add more wellness days to the academic calendar.
Several students said one day off per month is not enough and that wellness days should not fall on holidays.
“Two days a month would be good,” sophomore Samir Walker said.
Other students said wellness days should be intentionally scheduled before midterms or finals.
“Instead of just one or two days scattered throughout the semester, we could have three days off before midterms,” said senior engineering major Alyson Jones.
The goal of wellness days is to encourage students to destress from schoolwork and spend the time as they choose.
Freshman Kenzie Smith said she avoids schoolwork entirely, spending the day reading by candlelight. Jones said she uses the time to catch up on much-needed sleep, adding that she can rest “guilt-free.”
“It’s nice to not have to worry so much about turning in assignments or going to class,” Jones said. She said she discovered wellness days after transferring to Morgan.
Jones added that she studies more effectively on wellness days without the pressure of immediate deadlines. However, some students said professors still assign work despite university policy.
“I think sometimes professors leave it up to students to know when we have a wellness day and plan accordingly,” junior Aniya Knight said.
“Some professors don’t assign any work, and I appreciate them for that,” Knight said. “But some don’t care. They’ll assign a paper due Monday.”
Knight said she still supports wellness days and would like to see more of them — without assignments due the same day.
Morgan is not the only institution promoting student wellness. According to Towson University student newspaper The Towerlight, students there may take one wellness day per course each semester, which professors must treat as an excused absence.
Morgan’s next wellness observance is scheduled for March 15–21, designated as “Wellness Week,” followed by the semester’s final wellness day April 10.
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