Wellness Week Monash ran from 9th – 12th September, a week full of fun events, games, and bazaars. Bazaars lined the walkways of Monash, ranging from student-owned vendors and food stalls, henna design places, to a free photobooth! 

Monday 9th September

Monash Street Dance Society (MSDS) started us off with a hip, street-style performance to Young Jesus by Logic, followed by a kpop piece to Ditto by NewJeans. Monash Music Club then drew us in with their angelic voices. We had a few performances from the members themselves, serenading the crowd with a range of songs in Chinese, English, and more. The open mic session drew in a larger crowd, with members from the crowd enchanting us with performances such as “Always Remember Us This Way”, “Love Story” and “From the Start” from Welfare’s own Publicity Subcom. The head of Welfare, Sherlee, gave us an astounding performance of “Talking to the Moon” by Bruno Mars. 

Tuesday 10th September 

The next day, informational booths were lined up, teaching the school on emotional, mental, and social safety. Student’s had a chance to grab some cute welfare badges, stickers, and mouth-watering tam tams and chocolates just by a click of a button ( follow “@musa.cares”!). At 6pm, students crowded in the concourse area, ready to engage in a self-defence workshop taught by instructors from the FatCat Athletics Club. Our two main coaches, Jic Chia and Bless, taught the girls various approaches on how to defend themselves against an attacker: 

Defence 1: The wrist grab 

The first technique involved how to defend yourself if you were attacked from behind and grabbed by the wrist. The students were partnered up, where one played an “attacker” and the other played the “victim”. The attacker would grab the victim’s wrist, and the victim was instructed to place their hand over the attacker’s hand holding their wrist, and angle their elbow up. This would dislodge their attacker’s hand and allow them to run away. 

Defence 2: The hair pull 

The second technique involved how to defend yourself if an attacker tries to pull your hair from behind. The first step was for the victim to face the attacker, and place their hand over the attacker’s hand grasping their hair. The victim would then bring their other arm forward, up, and over the attacker’s arm, dislodging it, and loosening the attacker’s grasp from their hair. 

Defence 3: The hug from behind 

This third technique was how to defend yourself when the attacker grabs you from behind, tightly wrapping their arms around your waist. The victim should sink their weight down by bending their knees. This would give them leverage, and then they should widen their stance by placing one leg out and past the attacker’s (can either be their left or right foot), and bring their other leg around to hook the “attacker’s” leg from behind. 

Defences 4 and 5: Trap and roll

The fourth and fifth techniques demonstrated what to do if an attacker ever straddles you and pins you down grabbing your wrists. The victim was instructed to lift their hips high up and pull their hands down in one swift motion to remove the attacker’s grasp from their hands. They would then use their whole body to hug the attacker and wrap their arms tightly around their waist. Next, the victim was told to hook one leg over the attacker’s ankle (left or right), and push their body towards that ankle. This would dislodge it, causing the attacker to fall and allowing the victim to run away. 

Defences 6, 7, and 8: The elbow-break

The sixth, seventh, and eighth techniques were far harder to execute for the girls, but were for a similar situation; if the attacker straddles you in a slightly different position. The victim was instructed to wrap their legs around the attacker’s waist, holding them down. Then, they were told to grab the attacker’s wrist, cross their other arm over and grab hold of the attacker’s same side elbow. They were then told to bring their leg up and step on the attacker’s waist, lift their other leg up in a 90-degree angle to hook it over the attacker’s back, and turn sideways towards that leg. The victim was then told to loosen the hand holding the attacker’s wrist and use it to bring the attacker’s shoulder (closest to them) down. The victim was told to use their leg, bring it up and over the attacker’s head and pin it down. This would allow the victim to then pull the attacker’s arm towards them in a slow motion (for practice), putting strain on the arm and breaking the attacker’s elbow. 

Wednesday 11th September

The third day of wellness week, titled “De-Stress Day” was filled with informational booths on how to de-stress. Cute wellness badges were available for pick up where students had to follow musa.cares to get. There was also a Naluri booth, where students could test how stressed they were, with remedies for that stress, and a light consultation was provided. The highlight of the day, however, was the “Moru workshop” where students could make their own soft plushies to comfort them on a rainy day. 

Thursday 12th September  

The final day of wellness week had arrived! The porch held a wealth of arcade games for students to enjoy. The boxing machine, where they could test out their strength, was particularly popular. Students lined up, punching the bag each time trying to break the high record. They could also play a game of air-hockey and participate in a game of bowling and darts to win free candy! Students could also challenge themselves and do 15-second wall sits, jumping jacks, or more to win free candy. If they held a 90-second plank, they won FREE vouchers to Mad Alchemy! All in all, wellness week was a resounding success, and I’m sure most of us can’t wait for it again next year.  

Written by Pooja Tamara

Photos by Kai Xuan, Bong, Bryant and Jin Yi