In an effort to better educate students about their health, a new program – Cougar Wellness – was created at SXU to help promote wellness initiatives and also to make students more aware of the healthier choices that they could make.
Cougar Wellness will be hosting its first health initiative – the Student Health Fair – on Thursday, Sept. 19 from 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. in the diner atrium and student lounge.
After attending the American College Health Association’s (ACHA) national conference, Kathryn Tibbits, the Director of Clinical Services at SXU and a family nurse practitioner at the Health Center, was inspired to create such a program after realizing that SXU lacked a wellness program that was specifically aimed towards students.
“There are a lot of wellness services on campus, but there’s no overarching student wellness program. I thought we really needed something that if a student saw the Cougar Wellness logo, and knew what it was, then they would know that it would be about a topic pertaining to them,” Tibbits said.
The Cougar Wellness logo was created as a way for SXU students to recognize whether or not a certain health topic is intended for them. Tibbits remarked on the new program’s main mission.
“Our major mission is to educate students to help them take control of their own health. When you’re 18 and you come to college, this is usually the first time that you have to make any health decisions on your own. We really just want to educate people so that they could make their own choices and hopefully, they’re healthy ones,” said Tibbits.
Besides the Health Center, other SXU departments – such as the Shannon Center and the Counseling Center – are also closely involved with Cougar Wellness.
The Shannon Center is already hosting various fitness and nutrition initiatives for the SXU community.
The center’s Beginner 5K program has already started and its 8-week weight loss class is set to start on Sept. 17.
In addition to already offering personal counseling, the Counseling Center is going to host its annual Depression Screening on October 24.
Meanwhile, the Health Center will be doing presentations on different health topics.
According to Tibbits, the presentations will be informal ones and are not going to be a “sitting in class taking notes” type of thing – these presentations are going to have a discussion atmosphere.
The Student Health Fair will be Cougar Wellness’s first big event of the year. Jennifer Quinlan – Facility Manager of the Shannon Center and creator of SXU’s annual Health Fair – explained why such an event was created specifically for students.
“I don’t know why we never started this earlier, a student-centered fair. I’ve gotten a lot of good feedback from students about the Health Fair based on the evaluations and I thought, ‘Oh, students like this stuff? Well, why not do something just intended for them?” Quinlan said.
There will be multiple activities at the event. Students can enjoy free stress reducing services such as a massage or a mini manicure.
The fair will also have various demonstrations including one on Zumba, self-defense, and even healthy cooking. Information on different health topics will also be presented.
Free drawstring bags will be given out to the first 100 students to answer a questionnaire about facts and information presented at the health fair as well as a little questionnaire on what topics they would like Cougar Wellness to address.
Raffles will also be drawn throughout the event.
Quinlan remarked on how Cougar Wellness is different from other wellness initiatives and why it is important to SXU students.
“We’ve been doing health stuff on campus for quite a few years. It’s not that we don’t do things that are healthy for students – we do. We’re just trying to work together and brand what Cougar Wellness is so that students understand, “Oh, Saint Xavier does care about my wellness.”
Macy Zamudio
Senior News Editor
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