SPH and UMD Wellness at StampFest

By: Monique Thornton
Community Health Senior

At last week’s StampFest, School of Public Health students were enjoying the beach-themed festivities of the Terp Wellness Expo. 

         With a live steel drum player filling the Stamp Atrium with beach tunes, and students sporting their free sunglasses and leis, the Wellness Expo was truly an island-like escape.

     

            The Expo, organized by UMD Wellness, is one event of many for the spring semester. One of the organizers of the Expo, Natasha Paleau, is a graduate assistant for the campus Wellness Initiative and a graduate student in the School of Public Health. Stress is a universal thing, and UMD Wellness is using this fact to fuel its KEEP CALM AND STRESS LESS campaign, a campus-wide awareness campaign to get students involved in actively reducing stress. The Expo, an annual part of StampFest definitely contributed to this campaign.

SPH students were there, both helping with the event and participating in it. Community Health senior Michael Davis (to the right) was in charge of distributing tickets, buttons, and leis in the Stamp Atrium.

When asked about the turnout, Michael had this to say. “We’ve had people coming in since 10, when it started. All the people at the booths seem very knowledgeable about their subjects and the people walking around seem interested.” He also added, “The music is very relaxing. People were jamming to it earlier.”

The photobooth also seemed to be creating excitement. At the expo, students could take free photos in a photobooth by grabbing a ticket from Michael at the door and collecting three stickers from various activity tables. Students had approximately 20 tables to choose from to retrieve their stickers, which would give them access to props (silly sunglasses, funny hats, boas, and more) and the photobooth. One group of SPH students decided to take pictures together.

Rachel Shields, Kelsie Hall, Stephanie Peaks, and Avielle Bender, all students in the School of Public Health, enjoy the photo fun!

“I loved the photobooth because it was a fun and unexpected addition to the Wellness Expo and it really made the event stand out from a lot of other learning and information events I've attended,” Rachel Shields said.

That’s not all that students were doing. Besides posing for the photobooth, students circulated the room gathering information, sharing email addresses, and generally having a good time.

Here (below) a student is signing the KEEP CALM AND STRESS LESS pledge at UMD Wellness table. The pledge entails students writing down one thing that they like, want, and will do more to reduce and mange their stress. 

“We’ve gotten a great response so far,” Natasha Paleau (behind the table) said. “All students can identify with the message. It resonates with [them].”

With the success of UMD Wellness’s online 7 Day Stress Less Challenge—over 500 students registered—and with over 50 different pledges on the Terp Wellness Expo pledge sheet, the KEEP CALM AND STRESS LESS campaign seems to be catching on.

For more information on stress reduction and UMD Wellness events visit their website, Twitter, or Blog.