The UTM Athletic Council’s Health Month wrapped up after three weeks of initiatives to get students thinking about how to remain healthy.
The month’s activities were spearheaded by Mohamed Abdel Hadi, director of wellness and public relations at UTMAC.
Collaborating with AccessAbility and the Health and Counselling Centre on some of the events, UTMAC has used the month to provide help to the student population.
“The goal of Health Month is to raise awareness of all the aspects of health for athletes and non-athletes alike,” Hadi said.
He stressed the objective was to bring campus resources to light, partly through fun and games.
Different aspects of health were the focus of the three weeks in turn: nutrition, physical activity, and mental health. Each week featured events structured around its theme.
Nutrition week began with free breakfast offered to students, because research shows that students who eat breakfast perform better in school, Hadi said.
The event that had the most participant involvement was a physical activity auction, which involved students bidding on the number of exercises they would perform to win prizes.
Hadi explained that the turnout was so high that the event had to be held twice the same day.
On Wednesday, therapy dogs were once again brought to campus to alleviate the pressure of assignments and upcoming midterms.
UTMAC and the HCC also invited Bell to reach out to students by setting up a conversation table on Bell’s Let’s Talk Day on Wednesday.
Over the years, Bell has encouraged people to speak up about their troubles and experiences with mental health, donating money for various social media interactions using the #BellLetsTalk hashtag. The campaign covers more than one day a year, however, and encourages people to share their experiences to diminish the stigma of suffering from mental illness.
One of the final events for the month, a mental health comedy show, was postponed until further notice.
