Photo Courtesy of Wandalie Marie.
University of Tampa student is writing an affirmation at the Live Well table during the Energii Wellness Expo.
By Wandalie Marie
Tampa, Fla. – The University of Tampa’s wellness organizations came together to promote wellness for students.
On Oct. 9th, Live Well hosted the Energii wellness expo. This is where the wellness organizations on campus informed students about all the different aspects of wellness and how they can prioritize it in college.
Ben Fiscelli, UTampa student and certified peer wellness educator, demonstrates the activity Live Well’s table had at the Energii Wellness Expo.
Live Well is the executive wellness organization on campus that oversees all the student wellness organizations and certified peer educators on campus. They focus on the overall wellbeing of students and promote wellness resources available to all UTampa students.
“Wellness is kind of how you live your entire life,” said Cameron Bates, sophomore human performance major and certified peer educator for Live Well. “It’s not just small parts of your life; it’s a holistic approach.”
Julia Smith, ANEW’s event coordinator, hands UTampa students and parents flowers and affirmation cards.
Many tables had activities to promote wellness like writing affirmations or creating a bouquet.
Balance UTampa table had student written cards.
Other clubs, like Balance UTampa, had activities like write a card, pick one up. Where students would write a card for a stranger and encourage them in a moment they might need it. Then the student would leave that card and take another one home.
Amanda Locks, UTampa sophomore, smiles at camera. She is waiting to hear more about peer nutrition while other students talk to the coaches.
While many tables had activities other centered their promotion of wellness around a conversation. Peer nutrition coaches are a resource students got to learn about at Energii to promote physical wellness.
“At least for me and how I structure when I do [sessions], it’s always about your mind first,” said Jasmine Jackson, certified peer nutrition coach. “If it’s not okay up here, you’re perceiving the world and how you’re perceiving yourself, nutrition can only get you so far.”
Colby Boyd, personal finance club representative at Energii, stakes piggy bank stress balls into a pyramid. Both the piggy bank stress balls and the mini cans of Poppi are gifts for people who follow the personal finance club’s Instagram.
Some people think of wellness as only physical and mental, but it is so much more than that. The personal finance club tries to help students learn how to manage their money responsibly. Being financially secure can help someone feel much more confident in other areas of their life.
UTampa student Katie Polkow with her parents, Annie and Dave Polkow, and friend Tessa Kennicott checking out the R.I.S.E table at Energii.
For new college students prioritizing wellness can be especially hard while trying to adjust to college life.
R.I.S.E table has lanyards and stick-on wallets with the club’s logo for those who learn more about sobriety.
Brianna Higgins and Michelle Gehring, first-year students, make tie dye t-shirts at the Energii Wellness Expo.
Students who attended Energii learned about new ways they could balance school, social and personal life.
“I need to focus on the part about myself more than the school part, even though the school part is important. I need to focus on the me part first,” said Brianna Higgins, freshman entrepreneurship major, shared her perspective on wellness after attending Energii.
Olivia Dooney, UTampa student, and her mother Stacy Dooney talk to Face Foundrié representative.
Students interacted with wellness based local businesses and the Tampa Police Department. Allowing them to explore wellness beyond the school and even find a place to prioritize it after graduation.
“I hope they were able to find a new wellness vendor they could go to after finding out about them at Energii,” said Bates. “I also hope that they were able to learn something about one of those area topics that we focus on and that they were directed to a resource that they had questions about.”