Tomorrow, Northwood will be hosting its annual “State of the Student” day: a tradition that started in 2016 to help both students and teachers relax and rekindle the flame for the love of learning when we’re so-close-yet-oh-so-far from the end of the academic year.

With the event occurring on Valentine’s Day, the infamous “I Heart NHS” staff shirts—yes, the ones that make you smirk and think about the touristy “I Heart NY” shirts—suddenly have a much deeper meaning.

“We have a bigger purpose as a school,” activities director and head of the SOS planning committee Jennifer Petrosian said. “It’s to put self-sufficient people out into the world that can handle any event using a whole variety of ‘soft skills.’”

Soft skills include organization, communication and other capabilities that are not focused on in the classroom but are critical outside of it.

Holistically, SOS is a day to focus on areas where students seem to be struggling outside of academics. The purpose of this event is to show students and teachers that education is meant to be more than just achieving a 4.0 or becoming valedictorian. It’s about learning who you are and how to deal with conflicts outside of academic prowess.

“State of the Student gives us a break from the stress and intensity of schoolwork and outside activities,” junior Wren Jakubiec said. “I feel like it is very effective in terms of focusing on students and their wellbeing.”

As an event that impacts the entire student body, it has become increasingly important to incorporate multiple voices in the design of SOS.

For this school year, a newly founded committee has been dedicated to planning State of the Student. It is composed of representatives from each academic department as well as physical education and ASB.

The wide range of members allows for faculty to better understand student needs. Each department is in charge of pitching and executing their respective activities.

Another unique aspect of this event is the specificity of its core theme and how it varies each year. Determined by student input that is collected through surveys given throughout the first semester, the theme and data is also used to help the committee determine which events to display for SOS.

Although SOS is traditionally a single day event, this year’s setup is going to look a little different: the SOS theme is going to span the entire week in the form of lunchtime activites and dress-up days to expand on student wellness and Northwood student morale, overall emphasizing the theme, “For the Good of the Pack.”

“We realize that kids have been out of school for a few years,” Petrosian said. “And we’ve realized that a lot of things we thought students knew—like our motto or mascot—they actually didn’t know.”

Hence, Northwood is taking a step “back to basics” with hope to return to the core values of compassion, integrity and mutual respect.

“Having students not only work to identify what compassion is, but also learn how to apply it in various settings will help our school culture become even better,” education specialist Brandon Emery said.