Students enjoy cornhole and snacks at first weekly wellness event
Students play cornhole in the quad outside of Dunklau.
Photo Credit: Natalie Guske
By Natalie Guske
Students munched on corn-themed snacks and met up with new and old friends at a cornhole tournament Friday hosted by the Student Life Office to help relieve the stress of the first week of class.
The event was part of a new Bulldogs in Balance wellness initiative. SLO and the Student Activities Council will plan other campus community events centered around a specific area of wellness. This gathering was focused on relational wellness.
“In the past couple years, we’ve always done a singular (wellness) event that tried to touch on all the different aspects of human flourishing and wellness,” said Nick Wiles, SLO assistant director. “We were just brainstorming how to innovate and how to focus on each thing a little bit better, so we came up with this idea to (have) an event for every (aspect of wellness).”
Wiles said events will be based on a wellness wheel that has different aspects like spiritual wellness, relational, physical and financial wellness.
The plan is to host a wellness event every week until fall break, allowing students to explore the areas of intellectual, physical, vocational, emotional, and financial wellness, culminating in a final activity the week after fall break.
“The Student Life Office would love to pull in some other groups to help run these events, especially if they have a particular expertise in that area,” Wiles said. “For instance, our Paul Scholars are taking charge of the vocational event, and so they’re figuring out what they want to do with that and we’re helping them.”
Junior Rachel Amey said she walked past the event, saw people she knew and decided to stop by, visit with friends and play some cornhole.
“Not only did I get to see people that I know, but I also got to play cornhole against some people that I didn’t know and got to enjoy some snacks—it was a blast, Amey said.
The gathering was a chance for freshmen to get more immersed in campus life and grow their connections.
“It’s fulfilling [to see] some students who don’t have many interactions with others on campus come to one of these events and play cornhole with a random group of people,” said sophomore Cheyenne Vahl, a Paul Scholar who works at SLO. “There are a lot of freshmen I’ve seen, especially this year, that keep to themselves a lot, so it’s nice to see them get involved and find a group of people.”
Wellness is important in all stages of life and is especially relevant in college as students learn how to balance all the facets of their well-being on their own. Students can grow into their full potential by being properly educated on these different aspects of wellness.
Student organizations and departments interested in participating in a wellness event can contact Wiles at Nicholas.Wiles@cune.edu.
