Lee Renfroe, UNA assistant professor of Health Promotion, is working to establish a student health group on campus. This new group will be student-led and is called the Student Wellness Council for the time being.

“The Student Wellness Council will be a campus-wide organization for any student who likes wellness, that’s interested in being a healthy student and that wants to pursue activities that encourage being a healthy person,” Renfroe said.

Though similar in concept and structure, the Student Wellness Council is a wholly different group than Knowledge for Life (K4L), a now-defunct wellness group that was present on campus last year. The organization’s primary goal will be to promote wellness and holistically healthy lifestyles among UNA students.

“It will be an organization that encourages students to get together and do good things for their health,” Renfroe said. “(The group) will focus on the whole gamut: the dimensions of wellness, including physical health, emotional health, spiritual health and social health … the components of a holistically healthy person.”

Renfroe said the group may encourage runs, Zumbathons and healthier snack options on campus. Additionally, students will be taught—and will help to teach others — stress management skills, time management skills and how to make and maintain happy, healthy friendships and intimate relationships.

“The students will decide what they want to do with the group,” she said. “They’ll decide where they want to go with it, what they want to offer, what they want to sponsor and what they want their mission to be.”

As some may note, informational materials about the group bear one of two names: the Peer Health Council or, alternately, the Student Wellness Council. This is somewhat indicative of where the group is at this point in its lifecycle: no students have been involved in its planning yet, and there are currently no scheduled events on its calendar.

“We don’t have anything planned at this point,” Renfroe said. “Once the students start to generate ideas on what direction they want to take the group to take, it’ll unfold. Everything’s wide open.”

True to the group’s fluid, student-led style, its first informational meetings will focus on deciding upon a new name, creating a new face for the group and crafting its mission statement.  

Any questions should be directed to either Renfroe ([email protected]) or Jennifer Berry of Student Counseling Services ([email protected]).