Health and Wellness

Final Weekly Roundup Email for the 2021-2022 Academic Year

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Good morning, Class of 2025 –

I hope this weekly email finds you well. If you can believe it, there are only 6 more days until the last day of classes! For many of us, this year has been filled with lots of excitement and challenges. I am confident you will continue to experience this fluctuation as you progress through your Wesleyan career; however, my hope is that you are now more aware of resources that can help you during any part of your time here at Wesleyan.

Some upcoming dates and/or events that may be of interest to you:

  • Wellness Resources: End of the semester can cause stress as due dates quickly approach. Make yourself aware of both in and out-of-the-classroom resources to finish the semester strong. This includes but is not limited to meeting with your professors, talking with your course assistants, scheduling an appointment with an Academic Peer Advisor, reviewing resources offered through Student Academic Resources (SAR), meeting with me, visiting CAPS, WesWell and/or the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life. If you need assistance navigating resources, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.
  • Wes Day (5/5 from 12pm – 5pm): WesDay is a great opportunity to interact with the entire campus community. In addition to free carnival food, we’ll enjoy carnival rides, games, music, therapy dogs, wellness activities and novelties such as stuff-a-bear and pot your own succulent plant. Fried dough, popcorn, ice cream, and cotton candy provided at no charge to the first 1500 attendees. Food Trucks include Los Mariachi’s, Jackie’s Pizza the Pie, and Fryborg. Food truck tickets must be purchased at the Box Office in Usdan for $5 before the event and $10 on the day of the event. More info on Wes Day as well as other end of the year events can be found on WesNest on WesPortal.

You have what it takes to finish this semester strong. Pushing yourself to be successful academically does not have to happen alone. Take stock of the resources shared with you on this weekly email and think about what resources you used this year that worked to your advantage. If you didn’t use any resources, think about ways in which you can utilize resources in the future to get even more out of your courses.

You should be proud of how far you’ve come as you complete your first year of study at Wesleyan. I look forward to supporting you as you continue on this journey. If you’re up to it, feel free to send me an email sharing with me your favorite part about your first year at Wesleyan. I’d be delighted to celebrate with you all of your wins and successes this year.

Take care! Dean Dunn

Weekly Roundup – Class of 2025

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Greetings, Class of 2025!

Who likes a good count down? As of yesterday (4/5), we officially hit the four-week mark until the last day of spring semester classes. Everything you’ve worked so hard on this semester is coming together. Keep up the great work!

Here are some upcoming events/dates that may be of interest:

  • Well Being Wednesday (WBW) – Everyone can benefit from learning about ways to support well-being. Well-Being Wednesday (WBW) is a weekly virtual workshop on various well-being topics. Each workshop will involve a combination of elements including presentation/lectures, videos/TedTalks, Do-It-Yourself activities, and trivia. Register here to receive the virtual link for each Well-Being Wednesday session. 
  • Wes Day (5/5 from 12pm – 5pm) – WesDay is a great opportunity to interact with the entire campus community. In addition to free ice cream and tie dye, we’ll enjoy carnival rides, games, wellness activities and novelties such as stuff-a-bear and pot your own succulent plant. Fried dough, popcorn, and cotton candy provided at no charge to attendees. Students and faculty will perform music all afternoon at the base of Foss Hill. 
  • Pre-Registration: Pre-registration for Fall 2022 course selection began on 3/29 and runs through 4/11. Be sure to visit the Registrar’s page to review resources such as the Student User Guide to Pre-Registration and more to help you maximize course selection. If you haven’t yet, be sure to connect with your pre-major advisor to discuss your anticipated course load.
  • Withdrawal Deadline (4/27) – Last day to withdraw from full semester and 4th quarter classes.

Be sure to end your semester strong by utilizing the many resources available to you as a Wesleyan student. Not sure where to turn? Contact me and I can point you in the right direction. 
Dean Dunn

Well-Being Wednesday

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Looking for ways to support your well-being?  Attend Well-Being Wednesday!  

Well-Being Wednesday (WBW) is a weekly virtual workshop on various Well-Being topics.  Each workshop will involve a combination of elements including:  Presentation/Lecture, Videos/TedTalks, Do-It-Yourself Activities, and even Trivia.  During the Spring Semester, WBW will run from April 06 – May 04.  Register HERE to receive the virtual link for each of these Well-Being Wednesday sessions.  Sessions are open to students, staff, and faculty.  Sponsored by WesWell.

Fresh Check Day – 10/27

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Don’t miss Fresh Check Day TOMORROW, Oct 27th from 11AM-2PM at Usdan. 

Check in on your mental health at this fun fair-like event! Featuring snacks, t-shirts, games, interactive booths and activities, great prizes, and more! It’s a fun way to check in on your mental health! You can connect with peers and resources that will be at Fresh Check Day! 

Come for a chance to win an Amazon Fire Tablet!

Flyer that details Fresh Check Day on Wed 10/27 from 11am - 2pm in Usdan

Getting Excited for Fall Break!

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Fall Break is so close! What a great chance to take a pause and reflect on how much you have accomplished this semester. A few updates to consider as you round out the next few weeks:

  • Winter Session Aid Applications are now open. If you are thinking about taking a Winter Session course, please apply for aid now. Applying for aid does not obligate you to enroll in a class. Applications due 11/3/21.
  • Flu clinics: Wesleyan mandates that all students receive a flu shot by the start of the Spring 2022 semester. Wesleyan offers flu clinics for a limited number of students to schedule an appointment to receive a flu vaccine. If you aren’t able to schedule an appointment on campus, utilize local pharmacies or consider getting a vaccine if you go home for fall break.
  • CAPS Groups: The Office of Counseling & Psychological Support (CAPS) provides lots of support to Wes students. CAPS groups are a great option for students to access therapist support either separately or in addition to individual therapy.

Don’t forget to reach out to me if you need support navigating any part of your Wesleyan experience. If we haven’t met yet, please feel free to send me an email or stop by my office to say hi. I’d love to hear about your journey so far and chat about the future ahead.

Take care!
Dean Dunn

Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) Groups

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The office of Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) provides lots of support to Wesleyan students. CAPS groups are a great option for students to access therapist support and can be utilized separately or in addition to individual therapy. Check out the flyers below to learn more about groups focused on QTNB+ & Gender Diverse Folx, Asian American & Pacific Islander students, Women and Men.

Tips for Student Athletes

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Class of 2025 student athletes, it is unfathomable the hardships you have faced in the past year and half as you and your peers tried to pursue the sports that you love. While there is nothing that can be said to make up for lost moments, there are ways to use what you have learned as an athlete to prepare you for the academic rigor of Wesleyan.

Even as a student first, “athlete” remains a crucial part of your identity. The two go hand-in-hand in many ways. Below are some tips on how to best prepare for this upcoming semester with or without an official season impeding on your classes.

To start, time management is a big one. From the classroom to lifting back to the library then to practice and then a review session, your days can become very busy. Thus, it is essential that you find a way to best manage your time. Organization is a key factor of time management. It is so important that you implement some form of planner system or Google calendar to ensure that your classes do not overlap with practices or games.

From that last point, one of the go-to answers when asked by any coach of how to improve in a game is communication. This applies on and off the field. It is imperative that you establish a relationship with your professors early on so that it is easier to communicate for the very minimal times that athletes may interfere with academics. With that, communication with coaches is also part of your academic success and ensuring the prioritization of academics over athletics in special circumstances. Use your coach as a vehicle towards achieving academic as well as athletic success. In succession with the team as a resource, the use of older teammates in helping navigate the cohesion with your sport and classes is a key point of advice. They have experience with the structure of NESCAC athletics and the rigor of the Wesleyan education.

Lastly, success in any aspect of life is contingent upon proper preparation, which includes sufficient fuel and care of the body and mind. The life of a student-athlete is often go go go, which leaves little room for self reflection. It is ok to take a break and give yourself the downtime that you deserve. Ultimately, while you are labeled as a student-athlete on campus, these tips will help you to distinguish between or separate athletics and academics while also establishing a balance with both.

Checklist:

  • Time management
  • Organization (planner)
  • Communication (on and off the field)
  • Relationships with professors
  • Plan ahead
  • Use teammates as resources
  • Use coaches as resources
  • Separate/find balance with athletics and academics
  • Take care of body and mind (fuel)
  • Give yourself a break and down time

Welcome from WesWell!

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WesWell, the Office of Health Education, is an integral part of Wesleyan University’s Health Services. WesWell understands the impact of student health on academic performance and is committed to providing services that are designed to develop healthy behaviors and prevent health concerns that may interfere with academic and personal success.

In an effort to further advance our students beyond the classroom, Wesleyan University has partnered with EverFi to help students address critical life skills such as alcohol abuse prevention and sexual assault prevention. As part of our comprehensive prevention program for new students, Wesleyan requires you to complete AlcoholEDU and Sexual Assault Prevention for Undergraduate Students. These online courses will empower you to make well-informed decisions about issues that affect your college years and beyond. 

Failure to complete these courses will result in a hold being put on your registration.  You will receive an invitation via email from EverFi on August 9th.  The link will also be available in WesPortal, and you can expect communication on directions around that time from the Office of Health Education.

Top 10 Recommendations for the First Year and Beyond

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  1. Make Wesleyan yours: Find or create your spaces at Wesleyan, whether by joining an a cappella group or by loving your Physics lab. We have over two hundred student groups that you can sign up for. There are also jobs on campus.
  2. Build relationships: Seek out your instructors during office hours. This can be intimidating, but it is how you build a relationship and come to understand the course material better. Get to know your faculty advisor, work supervisor, your class dean, etc., as it’s important for you to know people; it’s also very important for them to know you!
  3. Learn from your classmates and try new things: Your peers have had a vast array of experiences, so make sure you’re supporting one another and growing together. Upperclassmen will be an invaluable resource as you transition to Wes. Also, make sure you try new things! Explore a new language, study abroad in a different part of the world, select a course with a topic that is completely new to you.
  4. Don’t be afraid to ask for help: Wesleyan has an abundance of resources, whether the Writing Workshop, Academic Peer Advisors or Peer Tutors, as well as your Faculty Advisor, instructors and teaching assistants. Asking for help is hard, because it means being vulnerable, but it is essential to your success. First-year students sometimes see asking for help as a sign of weakness, but it is not. Asking for help is really a sign that you can make savvy use of your resources that will enable you to thrive.
  5. Wesleyan has its own culture with its own language: I have built a list of acronyms that might be helpful to you.
  6. Use your time wisely: You will suddenly have lots of unstructured time. Given the COVID situation and the need to practice social distancing, it will be challenging to to find ways to manage your time. High school is extremely structured, down to the minute, which is not the case in college. Now it’s up to you to be mindful of how you’re using your time, whether studying for a test, writing a paper, doing homework, getting to class, etc. Most students use a planner, whether electronic or paper. For example, once you have all of your courses set, you should look over all of your syllabi and then plan out all of the assignments across the semester, as you’ll know when your intense weeks will be. If those weeks include papers as well as tests, try to get those papers done earlier so that you can focus on just the tests during that week.
  7. Make sure that you’re having fun! Find ways to connect with friends.  It’s hard to be social when practicing social distancing, but with a little bit of imagination and determination it can be done. Practice mindfulness.
  8. Take care of yourself. Sleeping and eating well, avoiding as much stress as possible, all of these are important aspects of self-care. WesWell offers self-care education, programs and workshops, as does CAPS. We have at Wesleyan the Rule of 7, a guideline that recommends that you can pursue four courses and three activities, but really no more than that.
  9. Don’t let a disappointing grade derail you. If you don’t do as well on something as you had hoped, go see your instructor and discuss where you went wrong in order to improve your performance on the next assignment. A disappointing grade does not mean that you aren’t capable or that the Admissions Office made a mistake (they do not make mistakes!). Make sure that you’re reaching out for help in this moment rather than pulling back, as this has happened to countless students before. Check out the Wesleyan Resilience Project for stories of students who have gained from their moments of challenge.
  10. Your dean is here to help: Dean Leathers is available to you via email or zoom this summer and once the semester is underway.  You can schedule a drop-in appointment with her through her Google Calendar, or you can an email her at tleathers@wesleyan.edu to schedule a meeting if drop-in hours don’t fit your schedule.