For many people, March is synonymous with one thing – college basketball (aka March Madness)! But for the past few years, the Central Pennsylvania Law Clinic has ushered in March very differently, but with an element of friendly competition.
March Mindfulness, spearheaded by Professors Mary Catherine Scott and Rebecca Waldemar, is a one-month contest to provide clinic interns the opportunity to learn about themselves and others, find ways to destress, be creative, and be healthy.
So how does March Mindfulness work? Students are divided up into teams of five, and they enter into a friendly competition to see which team can tally up the most points for taking part in a variety of wellness and mindfulness activities, including volunteering, drawing, keeping a mindfulness journal, visiting a museum, taking a nature walk, doing yoga, and the list goes on and on. The team with the most points at the end of the month wins a special prize from Scott and Waldemar. This year’s contest had four teams (20 students total).
For many law students, “you feel like your whole identity is going to law school, and being a lawyer and the stress and anxiety that goes with that,” explained Scott. March Mindfulness “can really help students find that humanity and focus on who you are, and not forget who you were before you went to law school.”
That resonated with Giselle Barragan, 2L.
“My first year, I was very much like ‘law school is my life,’ and that’s what really burned me out very quickly,” she said. “In the summer when I went back home, I really tried focusing on finding things that truly made me happy again and made me feel myself.” For her, that was playing Sims, which Barragan explains “helps her get away from the mindset of just ‘all I’m doing is law school.’”
Barragan also gives credit to her roommate’s dog, Kya, in helping her stay centered. “She is so cute and whenever you need a hug, she’s ready.”
Knowing that your peers are holding you accountable during March Mindfulness kept Matthew Strubinger, 2L on track. If a friend asked him if he exercised or got enough sleep the night before, he would normally find that rude, but March Mindfulness has helped him better focus on “the little things in life to make us healthy, like exercise and sleep, all of the things we usually miss out on as law students. Having conversations quite frequently here at the clinic has made me more mindful” of how important those elements are to a person’s wellbeing.
3L student Shakshi Kshatriya took the March Mindfulness challenge after talking with Professor Waldemar about meditation, which lead to her working with a personal yoga teacher and beginning morning meditations. “I found that her teaching me how to breathe and calm this crazy energy that I carry with me all the time gives me at least one hour of centering, so I can then focus on my day and carry that forward,” she said.
Some students, like Frank Aritz, 2L initially found the contest challenging, but began to note its benefits. “I’m not the best person to handle stress,” he admits, “I find when I try to do activities that don’t include work, I feel like I’m wasting my time and I should be applying my efforts towards my work.” While turning that part of his brain off and relax took some work, Aritz says he’s “come to terms with the fact that not everything is going to be perfect” and that’s okay.
“Approach everything with an open mind, knowing that everything is going to be okay, and any stress that you’re experiencing at that point in time will pass,” Aritz added.
The team that won this year’s competition was The Peace Clinic team: Jules Gorman, Artiz, Strubinger, John Terrana, and Kshatriya.
Participating students admitted to enjoying the camaraderie that’s come out of March Mindfulness, including new friendships and a renewed outlook. Professors Scott and Waldemar hope to expand this effort into the fall by conducting a similar competition to help law clinic students engage in wellbeing and mindfulness activities.
Members of the Peace Team, who won this year's March Mindfulness competition, are pictured above.
