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.
On Wednesday March 4th, UConn competing students from various academic disciplines took part in the Innovate Wellness poster challenge, in which they showcased their ideas for the Innovate Wellness challenge that were broken up into 3 stages; Empathize, Define, & Ideate. The idea’s proposed varied from sleep rooms, to different lighting apparatus, to rooms designated for stress relief.
Stresswell, a team trying to bring back a once popular “Wellness Station” said the event allowed them to do some additional market research, and hear about student wants before they finalized an idea. “A lot of the feedback we’ve been getting showed that students want a designated spot for their mental well-being.”
Students and staff were invited to judge the presentations as well, Ajshae Zulfi, Junior at UConn placed first last year for her idea “Wellness Points”, Ajshae judged some of the teams, and said she likes the idea of decreasing student stress. Ajshae also wants to advise this year’s competitors to “remember who their audience is, and to know that it has the potential to be utilized and impact lives.”
Our next event is on March 26th, in the Student Union ballroom. All students, staff and faculty are welcome! For more information about the challenge visit: innovatelabs.uconn.edu/wellness-challenge.