At Wittenberg, we do a great job of recognizing and educating students on sexual assault, depression, adjusting to college life, etc., but we haven’t always consistently focused on the pressure that society has placed on people when it comes to the "ideal" body. From student leaders, athletes, Greeks, and all our students who are not affiliated with anything, body image is something that everyone thinks about. This is why I thought that this would be something of importance for our campus to start recognizing, and that is how Springing Out of Insecurities Week began.

As part of this awareness effort, two events occurred last week to reaffirm body positivity and acceptance as well as sexual health. On Wednesday, Feb. 14, we hosted Condom Trivia Bingo with Tiger Health Educators, and on Friday, Feb. 16, we hosted a Love Your Body Run. The run started at Tower Lobby and went straight to the Student Center where there was a social hour from 8-9 p.m. for people to come together.

Throughout the week, people also had the chance to sign a Body Acceptance Pledge card or fill in signs that say "Beauty is ___" or "I like my ___ because ___". Operation K also hosted its Random Acts of Kindness this week with some events. They had clothes pins with affirmations on them and had a banner for students to write positive things about others. National Allegiance for Mental Illness (NAMI) also held an event earlier this week called Love Yourself. This event provided an opportunity for students to write why they love themselves. The papers were then strung together and hung around the atrium.

It has been repeatedly recognized that students start to feel down because of the weather and grades during this time. Spring Break is also getting closer, which is a time when people start "preparing" because they want a “spring body.” So, instead of people being bogged down about school and their bodies, we wanted to uplift everyone's morale and self-confidence.

Justin C. Unternaher ‘19
Major: Biochemistry/Molecular Biology (pre-med)
Hometown: Newark, Ohio