Melannie Hofmeyer

Hofmeyer’s innovative teaching idea, “Yoga,” focuses on exposing students to exercises that they can use to help calm and ease stress. With the help of the guidance counselor, Hofmeyer plans to co-teach lessons to help students with mental and physical health using meditation and yoga practices and to encourage teachers to use the exercises they teach in their classrooms. She also plans to focus on body centering, using yoga techniques to strengthen a student's whole body. The Voya grant will be used in the purchase of ExerFit Rainbow Mats student pack, which will be used in these exercises and a unit called ‘Mindfulness & Body Centering’. Hofmeyer hopes to give students practical strategies early in the school year and readdress them, so they may realize the benefits of using them throughout their daily life.