Students Learn To Balance Class And Wellness
February 25, 2019
A constant struggle among many college students is dealing with the stress of college while also maintaining their health, according to Gabriella Bierwirth, Central Connecticut’s Student Wellness Center’s program assistant.
One initiative that Bierwirth and CCSU’s Wellness Center coordinated to address this concern was the Healing Heart Fair, which was held last Wednesday at Alumni Hall in the Student Center.
“My goal is just to help students to be more in tune with themselves and the main factors of wellness that is represented here, [as well as] to help students de-stress since school started up again and to help them get back into the rush of things,” Bierwirth said. “Ever so often, it is helpful for someone to focus on the body and the mind.”
The eight factors of wellness that were represented at this year’s health fair were emotional, physical, social, environmental, spiritual, occupational, intellectual and financial health. Bierwirth described each of these eight factors as part of a circle of a healthy life.
“It’s a wheel and that’s how we like to represent how one’s life is, broken down into eight sections of a wheel,” Bierwirth said. “If one section of, like, a tire gets flat, the whole tire can’t work as well. So we are bringing all of these aspects of one’s lives to show the importance of all of them.”
Alyssa Mercaldi, member of the CCSU’s Future of Educators Club, spoke with students about the importance of intellectual wellness. Mercaldi said that this event is important to raise awareness and educate students about the different factors of mental health.
“Just bringing awareness that there are different aspects of mental health is really important. Also, bringing awareness to talk amongst friends and family about mental health is also very important,” Mercaldi, a junior at CCSU, said. “I think it’s important because we don’t have many events like this on campus and it’s good to discuss and talk about our emotional health and physical health.”
Connor Petzold, a CCSU junior, said that this event is especially important for students, like himself, who have to learn how to manage their stress and anxiety from school.
“I hope that the students can be more relaxed and learn that they have something to look forward to, not just tests and the difficult things about school,” Petzold said.
Ultimately, the goal of the event was to educate students, according to Bierwirth, who said that the fair would educate and raise awareness on the eight sections of wellness and teach students how they can manage each of these sections for a healthy life.
“I think students will learn a little more. Some of the activities are relaxing, but a lot of the activities are also informational, like how to be more financially and fiscally responsible,” Bierwirth said. “As long as one of these activities help make them think a little more about how they can live their own lives and help themselves, I think that they will gain from this and that is what will make this a successful event.”
