PERIOD 1 First Bell
Bright minds. Healthy Suns. Fully supported.
Welcome back, TRACE. However this summer treated you, September arrives the same way every year: fast, loud, and full of other people's needs. The research on this is not subtle. The single strongest predictor of whether school staff make it to June with something left in the tank is not passion or resilience — it's whether boundaries got set in the first six weeks.
So this issue is short on inspiration and long on tools. Five of the things below are interactive, and they remember where you left off. Use them from your phone in the parking lot at 3:15, which is honestly the most likely place any of this will happen.
September also carries weight. It's Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and National Recovery Month, with World Suicide Prevention Day on the 10th. We've put real resources in the Support period below — not as a formality, but because the people who spend all day noticing how students are doing are frequently the last to be asked how they're doing.
Making it official
TRACE is one of America's Healthiest Schools
The Alliance for a Healthier Generation named TRACE School to its 2026 list of America's Healthiest Schools, and this year we picked up four more areas of recognition. None of these are participation ribbons. Every one was earned by people already doing the work — the nurses, the food services crew, the counselors, and the folks who show up to a committee meeting on a Wednesday afternoon.
School Health Services
Local School Wellness Policy
Nutrition & Food Access
Social-Emotional Health & Learning
Find TRACE School on the 2026 honoree list — 1,376 schools across 35 states and DC. Keeping us on it next year is a big part of what the committee does, and there's a way you can help in the bulletin below.
Awarded by 
PERIOD 2 Homeroom
The September Reset
Twenty-one days, three weeks, one small focus at a time. Tap a day when you do the thing. Your progress saves to this device — nobody sees it, nothing is reported anywhere.
Start anywhere. Day one can be today.
Twenty-one taps between here and the end of the month.
PERIOD 3 Passing Period
Four minutes you already have
Between classes, between meetings, in the car before you drive home. Three tools that fit in the gaps.
Micro-break deck
Draw a card, do the thing
Shuffled & ready
Fourteen small resets
Each one fits in the time it takes a class to line up. Draw one and actually do it before you draw another.
5–4–3–2–1 grounding
When the day gets away from you
Name five things you can see right now. Actually name them, silently or out loud. Take your time on each one.
The year is a hundred and eighty days long. You cannot sprint it.
What week three keeps trying to tell you
PERIOD 4 PE
Thirty miles, thirty days
About a mile a day. Log what you covered and watch it stack up — the number is yours, not a leaderboard.
Your September miles
0.0 mi
Personal goal: 30 miles this month — about a mile a day.
That's 0 laps of the 3-mile Balboa Park loop.
Just for you — kept on this device, not reported anywhere. Nobody is checking your number but you.
Weekly fitness focus
Build the base
A rotating focus so you're not starting from scratch every Monday.
- Week of Sept 7 — Twenty minutes of movement daily, any kind, no negotiating.
- Week of Sept 14 — Core: two minutes of plank work, broken up however you like.
- Week of Sept 21 — Mobility: a spinal twist and a hip opener before you leave campus.
- Week of Sept 28 — Consistency: repeat whichever of the three you actually enjoyed.
Coming next month · free to join
Walktober: a step & movement challenge
A month-long challenge built on movement, a little friendly competition, and not much else. Free to enter, no fitness level assumed — steps count, and so does anything else that gets you moving. Think of it as the natural sequel to your thirty September miles.
Registration opens Monday, September 14.
The challenge itself runs October 1 through October 31.
The registration link goes out when sign-ups open on the 14th — watch your district email, or grab a committee member at the September 23 meeting and they'll walk you through it.
Free with your VEBA benefits
Every class below is virtual, led live, and already paid for by your CalVEBA coverage — no race fee, no drive, no parking. The schedule repeats week to week, so find the day that fits your life and stop negotiating with yourself about it. Open a day to see what runs.
MONWake up, wind down
6:00a Sunrise Yoga · 7:00a Full Body Stretch · 4:00p Functional Strength Training · 5:00p Tai Chi · 8:00p Bedtime Sound Bath.
The gentlest Monday on offer. The 4:00 strength class lands in the window between the last bus and dinner.TUEThe hard day
6:00a HIIT Cardio · 7:00a Flow to Stretch · 4:00p Mat Pilates · 5:00p HIIT Cardio · 5:00p Healing Through Natural Medicine with Dr. V · 7:00p Sound Healing.
Cardio at both ends of the day, so there's no excuse available in either direction.WEDMidweek reset
6:00a Sunrise Yoga · 7:00a Morning Mindfulness Meditation · 5:00p Tai Chi · 8:00p Bedtime Sound Bath.
The mindfulness session is thirty minutes, which is the shortest commitment on this entire page. Circle of Care, a two-part series for anyone caring for a family member, meets at 5:00p on Sept 16 and Sept 23.THUThe hard day, again
6:00a HIIT Cardio · 7:00a Flow to Stretch · 4:00p Mat Pilates · 5:00p HIIT Cardio · 7:00p Sound Healing.
Intro to Metabolic Reset — acupuncture, mindful movement, and nutrition — runs at 4:00p on Sept 10 and Sept 24. Register for one session only.FRILand the plane
6:00a Sunrise Yoga · 7:00a Full Body Stretch · 4:00p Functional Strength Training · 5:00p Tai Chi · 8:00p Bedtime Sound Bath.
Same shape as Monday. Book the 8:00p sound bath and let the week actually end.SATMorning only
7:00a HIIT Cardio · 8:00a Functional Strength Training · 9:00a Yoga for Flexibility.
Three classes, all done before 10 a.m., and the rest of the day is yours.SUNSet up the week
7:00a Flow to Stretch · 8:00a Body Sculpt · 9:00a Beginner Yoga Flow.
Sunday Meal Prep with Chef Leslie runs 2:00–3:15p on select Sundays — simplified meal prep for the week ahead, and the most direct antidote there is to a Wednesday drive-through.
New to this? Beginner Yoga Flow on Sunday and Morning Mindfulness on Wednesday are the two built for people who have never done any of it. See the full calendar at calveba.org/classes-events, then register and reserve your spot through your MyVEBA portal.
On the calendar this month
SEP 10World Suicide Prevention Day
Wear teal and purple. The committee will have ribbons and resource cards at each site office. See the Support period below for what to do if someone — including you — needs help today.
SEP 14Walktober registration opens
Sign-ups open for the free October Step & Movement Challenge, which runs October 1–31. Details are up in the PE period above.
SEP 23Wellness Committee Meeting
Wednesday, 2:30–3:30 PM at TRACE Main, Lower Level Room 3. Come meet the crew, hear what the committee is about, share ideas, and see how you can get involved. Details and flyer.
SEP 23Wellness Meet & Greet
Around 4:00 PM at Blanco Cocina + Cantina, Fashion Valley — right after the meeting. No agenda, just good food and good company. Details, parking hack, and flyer.
TRACE Schools · Rise & Shine · September 2026
PERIOD 5 Lunch
Sheet-pan honey-chipotle chickpeas & squash
One pan, forty minutes, and it reheats better than it has any right to. Slide the scaler to however many you're feeding — the amounts do the math for you.
Vegan as written. Add crumbled feta at the end if you're not.
Method · about 40 minutes
Make it a lunch: divide into containers straight off the pan while it's still hot. Four minutes of work on Sunday is four fewer decisions on Wednesday.
Passed along
Two things worth knowing about lunch
The recipe above handles what. These handle when and why you feel like that at 1:45. Tap either one to open it full size — each prints on a single sheet if you want one for the lounge wall.
Shared for general interest, not medical advice. Bodies differ — if something here conflicts with what your doctor told you, your doctor wins.
Printed from the staff wellness letter. Amounts reflect the serving count set on the page.
PERIOD 6 Prep Period
Boundaries, burnout, and where to get real help
Six-week self-check
How are the boundaries holding?
Six statements, thirty seconds. This is a reflection prompt, not a diagnosis or a screening tool — and nothing you tap is sent anywhere.
If today is heavy
Call or text 988
The Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is free, confidential, and staffed 24/7 — for you or for someone you're worried about. You do not have to be in crisis to call. September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and the point of saying this out loud is that the number should already be in your phone before you need it.
Included with your benefits
VEBA Resource Centers
Care coordination, health coaching, and mental and emotional health support — in person or virtual, at no cost to CalVEBA members. The newest center opened in Chula Vista this spring, alongside the existing locations. The Advocacy Team also handles appointment scheduling, billing questions, and quality-of-care issues so you don't have to.
What actually helps
- Pick two evenings a week where work stays at school. Two. Not five.
- Debrief a hard class with one colleague the same day, before it calcifies.
- If you lead a team: stop sending 11 p.m. emails. Staff read your hours as permission.
- Keep a two-line log of what went right. It's the cheapest counterweight to a rough week.
Passed along
Disagreeing without wrecking anything
Boundaries are half of it. The other half is what happens when two people who both care about the same kids want opposite things — in a team meeting, in an IEP, in the hallway after a hard class.
This one is worth reading twice: the point of a disagreement is understanding, not winning. Taking a break when emotions run high isn't avoidance, and repair after the fact isn't weakness. If a conversation this week is going to be a hard one, look at the list first.
Printable, if it belongs on a wall in your workroom.
PERIOD 7 Staff Meeting
District bulletin
Save the date · part 1
Wellness Committee Meeting
Wednesday, September 23, 2:30–3:30 PM
TRACE Main, Lower Level Room 3.
We're recruiting. Come meet the crew, hear what the committee is about, share ideas, and see how you can get involved. No application, no interview, no commitment ceremony.
We're also looking for a Student Wellness Ambassador. If a TRACE student comes to mind — someone other students actually listen to — bring the name to the meeting or send it over.
Save the date · part 2
Wellness Meet & Greet
Same day, around 4:00 PM
Blanco Cocina + Cantina, Fashion Valley
7007 Friars Road, #901, San Diego, CA 92108.
After the meeting we're taking wellness off campus. Join us at the meeting or swing by after your workday — no agenda, just good food and good company.
Parking hack: park on the top level of the structure near Riverwalk and Avenida del Rio Drive. There's a bridge straight to Blanco, so you're not circling Fashion Valley looking for the place.
Mark your October · part 1
VEBA Wellness Summit
Thursday, October 22, 2026
VEBA Resource Center, Kearny Mesa
5520 Ruffin Road, San Diego, CA 92123.
A day of wellness sessions at the VEBA VRC, covered by the benefits you already have. Times and the registration link are still coming from VEBA — we'll pass them along the moment they land.
Mark your October · part 2
Big Smiles Dental Clinic returns
Friday, October 23, 2026
TRACE Main, Room 11.
The mobile dental clinic is coming back to campus, and this one is for your students — cleanings and preventive care without anybody losing half a day to an appointment across town.
Register students by Friday, October 16. Sign up online at myschooldentist.com, or use paper forms — Nurse Stukes will drop copies in your mailbox at Main, and she's happy to walk you through the online version if that's easier.
Once you've registered, send her your list of registered students so she knows who to expect.
Annie Stukes RN · 619 894 5304
Show us
Wellness in action
If you catch a moment of wellness happening — a class stretching between lessons, a staff walk, a garden bed, a shared lunch — grab a photo or a short video and send it to the committee.
This isn't busywork. Those snapshots are exactly what goes into next year's Healthiest School submission, and they are far easier to gather as they happen than to reconstruct in the spring.
Tell us
The Wellness Champion Playlist
Send us the song that brings you joy, gets you moving, or just makes you smile — your go-to morning song, your workout anthem, the one that resets you on the drive home.
Every song goes up on the board. The more of us who name the same one, the bigger it gets written.
Ask us
What should October look like?
This letter is only useful if it's the one you'd actually open. So tell us what belongs in the next one — a recipe worth stealing, a challenge you'd join, a section we're missing entirely, a person on staff worth putting in front of everybody.
Nothing is too small to send. Half of what's on this page started as somebody's one-line suggestion.
Jamil Person · jperson@sandi.net