Over the past two years, the UConn Wellness Coalition, Student Health and Wellness has brought together UConn students, staff, and faculty from across campus to work towards creating a culture of wellness. The UConn Wellness Coalition has teamed up with OPIM Innovate to host the 2nd Annual Innovate Wellness Challenge: this year’s challenge addresses student stress. Both departments value student voice and are passionate about creating experiential learning opportunities that allows students to voice their opinions while using their creativity to design solutions.
The Innovate Wellness Challenge Kick-off took place in the Business Lounge on February 18th and was filled with various teams from diverse backgrounds. Tara Watrous, Project Coordinator for both UConn’s School of Business and Student Health and Wellness, started off the kick-off by sharing the Challenge prompt and data. According to the 2019 National College Health Assessment, stress is the greatest academic impediment for students. This also outlined student responses on the impact of stress on their academic performance, stress reduction resources students have received from their universities/if any, and their experience with stress etc.
Keinna Beeson, a senior at UConn who heard about the challenge through daily digest, talked about how she was drawn to the challenge because of her passion for self care. Keinna expressed that self-care is key to being successful in life and wants to empower others to form healthy habits. Beeson stated “Students are more likely to thrive when they receive more self care help, especially within institutions.”
UConn staff and faculty attended the kick-off as well. Colleen Attikson, a Health Educator with Student Health and Wellness, who supported the challenge last year, working closely with Team Pawsitivity talked about the importance of having student input. Attikson expressed her excitement for seeing the variety of ideas, and interacting with the students. Tara Watrous, Project Coordinator, explained “Students have the best vantage point to grapple with these problems. We are all eager and excited to see what the students come up with.”
Our next event is March 4th, 2-5PM, in the North Reading Room, Wilbur Cross. The student teams will be sharing their ideas through poster presentations. All students, staff and faculty are welcome! For more information about the challenge visit the Innovate Wellness Challenge page.