by InSoo Lee
Staff Writer
On Tuesday January 20, the Sewanee Wellness Action Group (SWAG) held a launch in order to showcase some of the students’ perspective on peer health education and to educate the audience about the new and current SWAG programming. At the launch, four trained seniors; Walter Chiarella (C’15), Sarah Anne Herbert (C’15), Jaclyn Valadka (C’15), and Allison Smith (C’15), talked about different aspects of wellness and how it affected their lives. Smith talked about women’s health, Herbert talked about healthy eating, Chiarella talked about healthy relationships, and Valadka talked about the importance of happiness. Although SWAG has only been active for one semester, SWAG has already changed the campus by creating a supportive environment for students interested in health and wellness, pre-med, psychology and biology, prevention, empowerment as well as other disciplines, to come together and be part of the solution by providing programming that changes lives.
According to Dr. Peggy Farmer, who moderated the event, said that she hopes SWAG “will expand our reach this semester and provide more programs campus wide.” Some of the new programs in SWAG are Positive Psychology, Honoring your Body/Loving Yourself, and Unlocking the Keys to Men’s Health. Another new program SWAG is planning are weekly meditations for stress reduction group and a monthly SWAG disco party for physical wellness to sweat the stress away. There will also be six more Wellness Colloquium’s at the Mary Sue Cushman room and will also host a large health fair on the Quad in April. They are also planning for yoga and other programs.
According to Armonté Butler (C’17) who is a SWAG member that attended the launch, he “enjoyed the launch because it brought the whole community together, not just students. The launch reflected the goals of SWAG, which is to bring a group of people together interested in wellness and to talk about issues that the campus is not talking about.”