On Wednesday, October 1st, Cro was filled with therapy dogs and meditation chairs. To the uninformed student, it was just another Hump Day in the college center. In actuality, the activities were a preview for Fresh Check Day, a mental health fair scheduled for two days later. In an effort to raise awareness about the event, Fresh Check day coordinators organized a mini-fair to get people talking about what more opportunities Friday would bring. Dr. Audrey Zakriski, a professor in the psychology department, admitted that Wednesday’s preview was a bit of a departure from typical Conn marketing. “It’s unusual. We don’t usually have an event to advertise an event,” she said.
Yet it would appear that Wednesday’s therapy dogs and meditation worked. Friday, October 3, brought Fresh Check Day to the Conn campus for the first time, and crowds of students flocked to Tempel Green to see what the mental health and wellness fair had to offer.
A national program, Fresh Check Day is tied to the Jordan Matthew Porco Memorial Foundation. The foundation was founded in memory of late Jordan Porco, a former student at St. Michael’s College who fell victim to the stresses of campus culture. In an effort to raise awareness of mental health resources and suicide prevention and intervention, the foundation launched National Fresh Check Day. The idea behind the day is to involve the entire campus community in the discussion of mental health and to regularly check-in with students about how they’re doing. Colleges and universities partner with this program to bring social events like music, dancing and interactive booths to campus. Colleges then have the autonomy to staff the event with their own relevant community organizations and to provide campus-specific resources.
It should come as no surprise that Janet Spoltore, Director of Counseling Services, was the point person in coordinating Conn’s Fresh Check Day. Director of Student Engagement & Leadership Education Scott McEver also assisted in planning the event. Zakriski commended their efforts and leadership, saying that Fresh Check was a bit of departure from previous mental health fairs at the college.
Zakriski would know. She is an active member in mental health initiatives at the college and has worked closely with campus organizations over the years to host relevant programming. Currently, Zakriski is the faculty chair for the college’s chapter of Active Minds, a national organization that promotes discussion about mental health and wellness on college campuses, and one of the campus organizations with its own booth at Fresh Check Day. According to Zakriski, Fresh Check Day is somewhat of a departure from Conn’s former mental health fairs, though she commends its interactive and engaging aspects
“[Fresh Check Day] gives a little more pop to the mental health fairs from the past,” Zakriski said. The organization provides large tents, prizes and food for the event, supplies that help make the event larger and more marketable than those hosted in previous years. However, Zakriski was quick to identify the cards that Conn brings to the table. “The ‘person-power’ is provided by the college. We’re merging outside resources with inside organizations.”
By inside organizations, Zakriski means the many campus groups that collaborated to make Friday’s fair a success. Student Counseling Services, the Think SAFE Project and the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life were only a few of the many groups to host booths. Some organizations opted for pre-designed booths from the National Fresh Check organization, such as the Residential Education and Living staff’s “Let’s Talk About the Elephant in the Room” table and the Office of Student Wellness and Alcohol/Drug Education’s booth on safe drinking.
Other campus groups created and marketed their own campaigns. Active Minds used the venue to launch their “I Have a Therapist” movement, a visual campaign that asks students, faculty and staff to take photos with signs saying in which ways they support seeking professional help. Student Counseling Services offered free screenings for eating disorders and depression. Other organizations hosted pumpkin painting workshops, belly-dancing lessons and mental wellness trivia.
Students, faculty and staff alike found the day to be a huge success. Dean Carolyn Denard commended the number of prevention screenings and the event’s “really good attendance,” the latter being something that every Conn event strives to attain. Sarah Bradford ’15, a Camel Health Promotion intern with CC Curtis, enjoyed both working the fair as a student leader and enjoying the booths and activities as an attendee. “It was exciting to see so many groups on campus come together to promote health and wellbeing,” she said. “I loved seeing so much student engagement throughout the day.”
If the number of people in attendance is any indication, Fresh Check Day is a huge step forward for the college. Thanks to the organization’s resources and our own campus’s passion, a serious conversation about mental health awareness is being broached.
According to Katie Rudolph ’15, co-president of Active Minds, that conversation is more than necessary.
“Over 50 percent of students in each graduating class use [Conn’s] counseling services before their graduation,” Rudolph said. “While not everyone has mental illness, everyone has mental health, and there are a lot of people who care on our campus.” •
