by Amber Allen
Managing Editor
Beginning Monday, a week of wellness events will take place that will enrich, inspire and impress anyone who thought they had to go off campus for adventure.
The Prevention Center, Campus Ministry, LEAD, Residential Life and Student Affairs sponsor the week, focused on the five areas of personal wellness: physical and emotional, intellectual, spiritual, cultural and social.
Nabeel Chiya, a peer educator and coordinator of Wellness Week, said, “We’ve really worked hard to find different things to go on each day. People need to realize health is important.”
According to Tracy Germann, prevention center coordinator, Wellness Week is larger and more organized than it has been in the past. “So often we concentrate on the negative stuff, such as people getting sick, and we don’t talk enough about how to be well. Wellness is positive,” said Germann.
Germann believes that each day of Wellness Week is important, but stresses that emotional and physical needs are the most basic areas of wellness.
“It’s like Maslow’s Hierarchy. The most important things are food and shelter and if you have don’t have those things then you can’t worry about anything else,” Germann said.
Wellness Week begins Monday with the Wellness Fair from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Tables will be set up, focusing on the theme of physical and emotional wellness. Among the many participants will be Health Services, which will be offering vision testing and information on urgent care. The peer educators will have a condom dart game and the International Students Organization will have teas and recipes available. The Gamekeeper from Montclair Plaza will also present ideas for emotional health, and demonstrations on step aerobics and full-contact self-defense will be available. The day’s events conclude with a massage session in the residence halls that evening.
Most of the companies and individuals involved in Wellness Week are doing so on a volunteer basis and all activities are free.
Tuesday’s activities are focused on intellectual wellness, with the Honors Bowl at noon. At seven o’clock, festivities move to Lordsburg Coffee Roasters, where there will be poetry and prose readings along with games presented by the Gamekeeper.
Wednesday is focused on spiritual wellness and guided by Campus Ministry. A Buddhist monk will present four different types of meditation, along with a discussion on the differences between eastern and western meditation.
Thursday will celebrate cultural wellness through art and crafts displays. There will also be a gift sale in the quad from 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
On Friday, the social activities culminate with a moon walk and jello slip and slide. Participants must provide their own disposable clothing for this activity. In the evening is the Creative Dating Game in the Student Center at 7.
“I want people to come up to me afterwards and ask ‘are we going to do that again?’” said Germann. “I just want everyone to have a good time.”
