Mindfulness at Lincoln: Your Donation Making a Difference

Chelsea* was nervous. She stood behand the curtain in the Lincoln auditorium, waiting for her cue. As she felt anxiety rising, Chelsea remembered something: her mindfulness training from Homebase. She stopped, took a few deep breaths, and confidently walked onstage. That situation would be stressful for anyone, but thanks to your donations to the Santa Monica-Malibu Education Foundation, Chelsea had the tools to work through her nervousness. Last month, Lincoln started its first mindfulness program for sixth and seventh graders – trainings focused on teaching students to purposefully pay attention to the moment. Research has shown that mindfulness can reduce stress and improve attention span, impulse control and test performance. Your donations to the Education Foundation have been used to train 11 teachers in mindfulness so far, and more trainings are ongoing. Just a few weeks into the program, mindfulness is already being used to calm students before tests and focus them in the classroom. Students have also reported using mindfulness outside school. One told a teacher she used it when a family member got sick and another uses it to fall asleep.

Thank you, donors, for giving our students a new tool to thrive!

Haven’t made your annual donation yet? Please give today. *Not the child’s real name.