Last week, Fordham University hosted Wellness Week, which ran from Feb. 13 to Feb. 17. The week of events were held in a collaboration between Fordham College at Rose Hill, the Gabelli School of Business and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS). The week’s events emphasized “cura personalis” and educated the Fordham community on the eight dimensions of holistic wellness.

Faaria Fasih-Ahmad, a higher education leadership fellow, planned the week of events with the help of Patricio Meneses, interim associate dean for student support and academic initiatives, and Marisa Villani, senior assistant dean for undergraduate studies.

“The whole idea of Wellness Week is to get students to engage with resources on campus. There are a lot of resources, like the writing center and career center, that are there for the students. We are trying to create something where students can access these resources before they actually need them,” said Fasih-Ahmad.

Pre-COVID-19, Wellness Week focused almost solely on improving mental and emotional wellness. This year, however, Wellness Week developed a multidimensional approach towards promoting full body wellness. Although this is the first Wellness Week Fordham has hosted in two or three years, Fasih-Ahmad is hoping to make it an annual event.

“We are hoping that it is going to be sustainable and definitely are learning things through this week that we will tweak for future years,” said Fasih-Ahmad.

Over the week, three wellness activities were offered per day. A week of RamFit events that focused on physical wellness and a week-long scavenger hunt promoting intellectual wellness were also offered.
Campus events promoting physical wellness included a dance class hosted by ​​Murat Hosgora and a pull-up bar station which tested grip strength and educated students on the importance of shoulder health.
Popular spiritual wellness events were “Ignatian Spirituality and Yoga” and sandwich making for local food pantries, hosted by Robert Parmach, assistant dean for first-year students.

Fasih-Ahmad mentioned she was looking forward to “Ignatian Spirituality and Yoga” and was enjoying the scavenger hunt, which she helped plan.

“The scavenger hunt is what I really focused on. It is a low effort way for students to go and see where resources are. With the new McShane Center, a lot of things have moved around. The career center is there, CPS is there, CCEL is there. The students can physically go to those places and see where they are.”
Fasih-Ahmad was inspired to recreate Wellness Week after realizing she was unaware of the wellness resources Fordham offers to students.

“My job when I first came there [GSAS] was to try and figure out what resources for graduate students specifically there are for wellness. I was making a list [of the resources] when I realized that I had been a graduate student here for five years, and a lot of the resources I didn’t know about.”

Fasih-Ahmad said she felt Wellness Week was a success. She said the week’s main goal was to encourage students to explore the expansive list of wellness resources that Fordham provides.

“We are hoping that students are going to be able to engage with resources they haven’t engaged with before, and that will make them more likely to interact with those resources again in the future. I really hope that more people get a chance to interact with the resources. Even if they don’t interact, knowing that they are available and how to interact with them in the future.”