The FLC Wellness Committee was established in 1987 for the purpose of addressing smoking on campus. Since that time, our Programs have changed and developed.
The FLC Wellness Logo was designed by one of our committee members. It began as the logo for the 4For Being Fit program, but over time it has become the image that designates all Wellness programs.
The current "heart" of the Wellness Committee activities is the 4For Being Fit program. This program focuses on personal wellness and physical fitness, and has evolved over the years based on the suggestions and needs of the participants.
Other Wellness events offered by the Wellness committee are:
Workshops and brown-bag lunches on health and wellness topics. Past workshop subjects have included nutrition, holistic health, weight-loss, fasting, and sleep health.
Specific health action programs, such as smoking cessation, health screenings, lipid and other blood tests, depression screenings and anxiety screenings.
Organized monthly campus "Wellness Walks", some of which also support local charities. We have also encouraged the campus community to participate in health-related community events, community service opportunities, and local charity events such as the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life.
Classes or organized exercise time, such as yoga and weight-lifting.
The Wellness Committee also provides 100 campus members with free subscriptions to a wellness newsletter called Total Wellness. These subscriptions are funded via a grant from the Union and Activities office and the President's office.
In addition to the above ongoing activities, the Wellness Committee co-sponsors Wellness Week, which generally encompasses the week prior to FLC Spring Break. Working with the Student Wellness group and the Union and Activities Prevention Program, this week intensifies the programs offered throughout the year with workshops, walks, health screening and high caliber speakers.
We gather ideas from many sources, among them the annual National Wellness Conference. With assistance from various organizations on campus including the Exercise Science Department, the School of Education, and Human Resources, a Wellness Committee member has attended the conference several times to exchange information and gather ideas for the upcoming year. In addition, the Wellness Committee has retreat once a year, usually in late summer. During the retreat we focus on reviewing our successes and failures of the past year and organizing activities for the coming year. The committee is made up of faculty, administrative staff and exempt staff. We welcome participation by any interested member of the FLC campus community.
The committee often works with other campus groups, especially the Fort Lewis College Employee Council, to provide the best programs we can to the campus community. Each year we solicit nominations from faculty and staff for their colleagues who show an exceptional committment to wellness. We then present two awards each year at the annual campus-wide Employee Recognition luncheon.
The Fit 4 Life Award is presented to an employee who has demonstrated a life-long pursuit of wellness.
The About Face Award is presented to an employee who has recently begun to make wellness a priority.
Though not an annual presentation, in 1995 we established the Courage Award, presented to a faculty or staff member who has shown great courage in the face or adversity in their personal health and wellness.
We welcome suggestions, and can be contacted by telephone to the UFIT (ext. 8348) line, and by e-mail to wellness@fortlewis.edu. We also have a Comments and Suggestions form with links from several of our web pages, and an Event Feedback form to make it easy for people to give us their feedback on sponsored events. We hope you will submit your comments so we can continue to improve our programs as your FLC Wellness Committee.
