Student Leaders Show Wellness Goes Beyond the Gym

Sarah Tomkovich ’28 thought she knew the extent of wellness when she started at the University of Tampa two years ago. 

“I came in here thinking wellness was like going to the gym, eating healthy and going to sleep on time,” she said. “But now I know it can be like financial wellness, too, or even spiritual wellness. There are so many different ways to find balance in your life.”

She credits the University’s breadth of student-led wellness clubs and activities, part of an initiative called “Live Well,” housed in Wellness Services, with expanding her view. Now she is part of the student committee that leads and develops programs for it, including the Energii Wellness Expo, a biannual fair that showcases opportunities for students to pursue their well-being on and off campus. 

The expo is held each semester and offers students the opportunity to connect with clubs that promote health in all aspects of life. 

“This is the best opportunity, other than  the involvement fair at the beginning of the year, to know everything you can get from Wellness (Services),” Tomkovich said. “It allows the students to really see it all in one place.”

This fall’s expo featured about 15 vendors, including off-campus fitness facilities and campus clubs. Rallying in a Sober Environment, or RISE, was advertising its Halloween trip to Busch Gardens later this month. Last year, the group hosted a Pilates with puppies event and an “Oksoberfest” gathering to decorate pumpkins.

RISE, which has about 60 students who regularly attend its meetings, holds substance-free events on campus that are open to all students. Spaces like that are needed to support students and promote sobriety, said Ozzie McCarthy '29, the recruitment manager for the group who was at Energii last week.

“You can have fun without alcohol or drugs,” he said. 

Alternative and natural wellness exploration is at the core of Anew, a student group led by Jade Morelli ’26 that also hosts campus events.

Often students are so focused on school, they forget about holistic wellness and what it encompasses, said Morelli. Her group aims to be a safe and inclusive environment for students to explore that. 

“We're trying to be a friendly place for those practices,” she said.

Anew has hosted clothing swaps, sunset Pilates, a “reset and refresh” beverage table and next week is inviting students to enjoy a “Cozy Fall Night” with apple cider and pumpkin painting in Plant Park on campus. 

The Energii Expo began in 2011 shortly after the Dickey Health Center was opened, said Gina Firth, assistant vice president for wellness at UTampa. 

“We wanted to find a way to begin to showcase the student organizations that were providing wellness education and programming,” Firth said, adding that Energii was successful from the start, with both off-campus vendors and student organizations participating.

A key criterion, which remains more than 15 years later, is that participating organizations must showcase an educational activity with a specific learning outcome, “so that we are increasing students’ knowledge about well-being,” Firth said. 

This year, digital well-being is a focus for the student wellness leaders, said Tomkovich. They are pushing awareness and mindfulness around how extensive screen time affects one’s mental health.

“It's really just like promoting awareness, not judgment,” she said. Some activities this year have focused on tactile activities like DIY journal making, knitting and getting outside to touch grass.

“With social media nowadays, there's so much stuff that you can get wrapped up in, in comparison,” Tomkovich said. “Sometimes just being present off your phone is really helpful."