With lights dimmed and soft music in the background, HHS students of all grade levels work on their balance at Power Vinyasa Yoga.

Hershey High School’s second annual Community Day brought a variety of sessions, all focused on allowing students to experience different activities. Power Vinyasa Yoga was one of the many sessions at this year’s Community Day. This session was created in 2015 by Julee Brown, a special education teacher at HHS and Lori Ogle, a math teacher at HHS. Brown and Ogle created the yoga session because of their love for yoga.

Brown explained that several teachers at HHS do yoga for fun after school twice a week. She said as a teacher their priorities are helping, so it is important to make themselves a priority too

This year Power Vinyasa Yoga was also run by Colette Silvestri, a learning support teacher at HHS. The session focused mainly on deep breaths and simple poses such as downward dog, tree, and warrior. The students who attended the session were of all grade levels and genders, which both Silvestri and Brown said they enjoy.

The session started with Silvestri and Brown leading the group with calming music and an oil diffuser in the background. A few nervous laughs could be heard at the beginning, but students soon focused on perfecting their table top poses. Brown told the students to “focus on decompressing from school, sports, and activities”.

Towards the end of the session, Silvestri put on a Youtube video called “10 Mindful Minutes” for the group to follow. HHS sophomore Halle Burk and freshman Meredith Sheehan said they both enjoyed the session although they were hesitant at first.

Sheehan said, “It was a soothing and invigorating session.” She also said that it was a great start to what she hoped to be a fun Community Day.

As the students went their separate ways at the end of the session, Burk said, “I’m really glad I chose this session; it was the perfect activity to start off my Friday.”