Fall 2021 - Issue 9
IMPORTANT DATES
September 7 | 6-8 pm
Now-September 11
September 18 | 8 am - 12:30 pm
Health and Wellness
Be Well to Do Well
  • Be Rested
  • Be Calm
  • Be Safe
  • Be Smart
  • Be Connected
  • Be Informed

Be Well to Do Well encourages USI students to engage in healthy behaviors to improve well-being and enhance success inside and outside of the classroom. The initiative is a collaborative effort that seeks to involve the entire USI community in the promotion of wellness through educational messages, programs and outreach.
Achieving Wellness
The Dimensions of Wellness
Wellness is an active, continuous process of self-enhancement that contributes to one's ability to thrive as a USI student. Wellness extends beyond just the physical and is a multi-dimensional state of being. It's all about balance!
Financial wellness is an intricate balance of the mental, spiritual and physical aspects of money.
 
Environmental wellness is the process of recognizing one's responsibility to one's environment, which ranges from immediate surroundings to the world. 

Occupational wellness is the ability to get personal fulfillment from one's jobs while maintaining balance in life. 
Emotional Wellness and Mental Health
Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.

  • Emotional wellness is an awareness and acceptance of a wide range of feelings in one's self and others. An emotionally well person understands their limitations.

  • Intellectual wellness involves ongoing learning and the ability to open one's mind to new ideas and experiences. Sharing ideas with people from different backgrounds helps us advance in all aspects of life.

  • Social/cultural wellness is the ability to connect with other people in our world. This dimension is expressed through developing and maintaining friendships, family relationships and more.
How to Practice Self-Care
  • Get professional help if needed (there's nothing wrong with seeing a therapist/counselor)
  • Spend time with loved ones and friends
  • Stay positive
  • Leave one's comfort zone
  • Getphysically active
  • Eat a healthy diet
  • Enjoy a hobby
  • Get enough sleep
  • Journal
  • Help others
  • Develop coping skills
Mental Health Stigma
Mental health stigma is a prejudicial attitude and/or discriminating behavior directed toward individuals with mental health issues as a result of the psychiatric label they have been given. How can we eliminate stigma? By imparting knowledge about mental health issues and challenging existing negative stereotypes.

Ways we can reduce mental health stigma:
  • Educate one's self on the facts.
  • Choose words carefully (e.g. avoid using terms like 'OCD', 'crazy' and 'depressing').
  • Talk openly about mental health.
  • Encourage equality between physical and mental illness.
  • Show compassion for those with mental illness--choose empowerment over shame.
Physical wellness includes appropriate exercise and proper nutrition in addition to making responsible decisions about sex, alcohol, tobacco and drug use.

University Health Center provides medical services and health-related information to students, faculty and staff. They are located in the lower level of the Health Professions Center. | 812-465-1250 | Website

The Student Wellness Office is located in Room 219 in the Recreation, Fitness, and Wellness Center (RFWC). Student Wellness develops, implements and coordinates health and wellness programs for the University community. Throughout the year, they partner with campus departments/organizations and local community agencies to provide wellness outreach events.

The RFWC offers almost 100,000 square feet of recreational space.
Spiritual Wellness and Religious Life
Spiritual wellness is the process of looking within one's self and exploring values and beliefs to establish peace and harmony in life. It is not necessary to find this through organized religion.

Religious Life provides religious guidance and worship opportunities for students, faculty and staff. The Religious Life office is located on the corner of O'Daniel and Clark Lanes. The department's goal is to get the word out about ways to stay active in your faith life while at USI. 

Services offered:
  • Retreats, fellowship, Bible studies, worship Mass, service opportunities and educational programming
Campus Information
Emerging Leaders
Service Saturday
Emerging Leaders offers USI freshman students the opportunity to develop new leadership skills, make new friends, and contribute to the University community. This program focuses on preparing individuals to succeed and contribute to USI as student leaders in subsequent years. Applications for the 2021-22 academic year are now available! Weekly sessions are held on Mondays from 3 to 4:30 p.m. during the Spring Semester.
Join First Year @ USI, LULA and Eagles in Action on Saturday, September 18 from 8 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., to volunteer at the Tri-State Food Bank for an on-site workday. This is a free program. Participants need to provide their own transportation. Face coverings are required, and all COVID-19 event guidelines will be practiced. Learn more and sign up at USI.edu/ServiceSaturday 
COVID-19 Information
USI students and guests/visitors to campus are asked to self-monitor and check daily for symptoms of COVID-19. Anyone with symptoms of COVID-19, who has been exposed to someone with COVID-19 or has side effects 48 hours after a vaccination, should fill out the self-reporting form, remain off campus and contact their primary care physician for evaluation. Exposure and contact tracing plans have been developed and will be implemented when needed.
Sexual Assault Prevention and Alcohol Edu Trainings
Completing Sexual Assault Prevention and Alcohol Edu trainings are required for all first-year students and all student-athletes. We also encourage all of our students to complete the training as our policies and processes have changed to be consistent with federal guidelines. Students should have received an email invitation in their USI Eagles email account.
 
Students can access these trainings by clicking on the link in the email invitation or by logging into their myUSI account and clicking on the Everfi app, a giant white E in a field of orange (please see picture).
 
Students should complete the trainings prior to October 1, 2021. Completion of the trainings will ensure that a hold is not placed on a student's account. Holds will prevent students from registering for Spring and Summer 2021 classes.

Please help us to keep our campus community safe and healthy. Completing these trainings are one way to achieve this goal. 
Campus Office Information
Check out the following offices for new student and campus information:
Screagle in the Spotlight - Perci Hale
Year: Senior
Major: Theatre with a minor in French and Africana studies
Hometown: Montgomery, Alabama

If you could be one fictional character, who would you be?
I would be Olivia Pope from the hit political fiction series, Scandal because I love the confidence she exudes and the way she is able to take charge even in the midst of the craziest circumstances.

What is your favorite memory from USI?
My favorite memory of USI is from last year during our first basketball season in the new arena. As a student ambassador, I was able to help host a tailgate for incoming students and join them in watching their first game. I loved the excitement and the camaraderie that came with celebrating our new home as Screagles and cheering our team on to victory.

How did you make USI your home?
Since I am roughly seven hours away from home, I had to put in a bit of work to make USI my home. Although it was not a big challenge because so many of the faculty members and current students already made me feel like I had a home at USI. Before I started my first semester, I still decided to join several clubs and organizations such as Student Ambassadors, Diamond Eagles Majorette dance team and NAACP to name a few. Through these organizations, I was introduced to both like-minded people and people who thought differently than I did, and it all helped me to build my community on campus that made me feel as loved as if I were truly at home.
Tips & Reminders
Learn what is happening on campus on the USI Events Calendar
COVID-19 Information
Stay up to date on with new information about the spread of COVID-19 on campus and access the Student Self-Report Form.
new.student@usi.edu