In Fall 2024, Dr. Laurie Santos, Yale’s famous “happiness” professor, spoke at Assembly, hosted a parent/guardian workshop, and filmed part of her new course, The Science of Well-Being for Parents. This valuable resource is now available and free for Nobles parents to take online.
Dr. Santos has partnered with Nobles since 2019 when she generously agreed to support our faculty in teaching her course—Yale’s most popular one ever—Psychology and the Good Life. This senior elective was offered every semester from fall 2019 to spring 2024. In 2023, Dr. Santos released a teen version of the Coursera course, which incorporated Nobles’ feedback on how to best reach young people with this important content. When Dr. Santos launched the new course, the NBC Nightly News featured Nobles as the first high school to teach her curriculum. Since then, Nobles has taught all juniors a version of the course and will continue to do so.
Some of the most important course material addresses the many ways our minds lie to us about what we think will make us happy… and provides scientifically proven strategies that can boost overall happiness and well-being. Such practices include focusing on gratitude, connecting (in person, screen-free) with others, starting a mindfulness practice, doing kind acts for others, exercising, getting plenty of sleep, savoring the good things in life, and using cognitive strategies to interrupt negative thinking patterns. Nobles has greatly benefited from partnering with Dr. Santos, and we look forward to our continued relationship.