Loop It Up welcomes new Mindfulness Zone coordinator, shifts gears for in-person learning

With the return to in-person learning this school year, we have found our Mindfulness Zone program to be more important and impactful than ever as students, families, and teachers settle back into face-to-face instruction. 

And we are so happy to welcome Ashley Kendrick to team Loop It Up as our Mindfulness Zone program coordinator! Ashley relocated to Savannah from Annapolis, Maryland, in 2013 after graduating with her MBA, with the goal of cultivating a life founded on community collaboration, activism, and sustainability. Having found yoga many years prior, and shortly after becoming a Registered Yoga Teacher, Ashley has made it her life’s work to make yoga more diverse, inclusive, understandable, and accessible. Ashley says she is passionate about working with kids in a trauma-sensitive environment, which brought her to the Mindfulness Zone program in August of this year. 

The Mindfulness Zone program combines yoga, mindfulness techniques, and art to give students tools for unpacking, processing, and expressing their feelings and experiences in a healthy, safe, and respectful way. We have dedicated Mindfulness Zone spaces at Gadsden Elementary, Brock Elementary, and Juliette Gordon Low Elementary schools that provide a quiet and calming environment for students. There, they learn skills such as breathing techniques, visualization, and drawing to help them realize they have the tools they need to navigate life’s challenges. 

Mindfulness Zone began in 2019 at Juliette Low Elementary in collaboration with Principal Tahisha Wright and the student support team. The program has since expanded to include Gadsden Elementary and Brock Elementary and now serves the three schools during the day, as well as all 15 SCCPSS schools in the 21st Century afterschool program.