 "Photo: Michael Trias")
The grand opening of The Well center was flooded with students, volunteers and staff members eager for the free healthy snacks provided, including yogurt parfaits and mocktails.
The event took place in multiple rooms at the Highlander Union Building where The Well distributed promotional "wellness kits" that included brochures about life management and offered a chance for students to play Wii Fit.
To enhance the cordiality and welcome feeling, composers from the Student's Musician Association and solo guitarists were in attendance.
"I felt the opening was a great success," Student Affairs Case Manager Sarah Pemberton said. "You can see there are many students today who are interested in The Well, what it has to offer and how it can improve their daily lives."
Several students agreed with Pemberton and said the grand opening was a very exciting event.
"I think The Well is doing a great thing by combining all of UCR's resources into one location," third-year political science and history major Brian Lopez said. "Today showed a promising future for The Well too."
The Well itself stands for Well-being, Empowerment, Life and Learning, and it partners itself with a multitude of UCR services, such as the Counseling Center, Health Center, Student Recreation Center and the Dean of Students.
"The Well serves as a sort of one stop shop for students, so that if the Well itself cannot provide any help or assistance for the student at hand, then it can refer them to anyone of The Well's partners," Community Service Assistant Oronne Wami said.
Some of the services the Well has to offer include, but are not limited to, peer programs, references to community service, health educators, stress relief, time and life management, diversity initiatives, healthy eating and the progress to better emotional wellbeing.
The Well also allies itself with many student associations on campus, such as REACH, Golden Arches, Stress Busters and Active Minds.
Prior to the development of the Well, these students groups primarily spread awareness about suicide, hate crimes, alcoholism, substance abuse and relationship problems.
So if UCR already had plenty of empowerment and healing services, what inspired the creation of the Well?
"The Well was created not only for the sake of our student's emotional, physical and mental wellbeing, but also for them to get better connected with campus resources, make things more convenient by placing all the services in one location and to further spread awareness about the importance of a well balanced life," Coordinator of Health Education Initiatives Doug Everhart said.
Everhart also believes that The Well's future is set to be successful. "I certainly believe that many people will keep coming," he said. "We've already had a lot of student feedback and comments. Just as our staff is enthusiastic about the Well, we have many people demonstrating their interest in today's grand opening."
"I think the Well is definitely a great way to get connected with people and campus resources," third-year psychology major Steven Wang said.
In addition to the services it provides, The Well will also host programs and events several times a week. The Well is located at HUB 248, open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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