SSU celebrates body positivity with 'EveryBody'

Star // malia teran

olivia blades makes a friendship bracelet with the sisters of Lambda sigma gamma.

Students came to Seawolf Plaza on March 16th to see how clubs, Greek life and different organizations promote body positivity. The goal of this event was to bring the Sonoma State community together with a variety of activities and instructional ways to practice self care, self confidence and acceptance of all different bodies.

 “EveryBody” was put on by Seawolf Living as an event supporting Women's History Month. Seawolf plaza was lively with the sound of music and smiles were seen on many Seawolf faces. Students floated around from table to table looking at the various activities and potential prizes to win. Each table brought their own unique twist on how they wanted to engage students. 

The campus Recreation Center brought out a mini basketball hoop and challenged the students to shoot the ball in order to win a water bottle. Student Involvement encouraged people to write kind words about themselves or others and use it to enter a raffle for different kinds of prizes such as a Lego flower set. SSU Counseling and  Psychological Services (CAPS) had a wheel that was spun to win items such as putty and coloring books. 

The volunteer service on campus, Join Us Making Progress (JUMP), was tabling to promote volunteer work on campus. Alpha Omicron Pi spread coloring books all over their tables and invited students to color-in as they pleased. The sorority Kappa Delta Zeta displayed two large decorated boards in front of their table. Written in big letters were the words “What is Confidence?” and members filled out the rest of their boards with their own unique answers. This was part of their Kappa Confidence Campaign for the spring semester. 

The multicultural sorority, Lambda Sigma Gamma (LSG), hosted a “create your own bracelets” station where students could make one for themselves, friends or loved ones. President of LSG Shirley Garcia stated, “To me, body positivity means being accepting and acknowledging that everyone is beautiful in their own way… Oftentimes we forget that our differences are what makes us all unique.” Garcia continued to say, “This event was a great success because it allowed students to create bonds & see their uniqueness as beautiful…I think the best part about our activity was that many students made bracelets for others with very kind words.” 

Junior Cassandra Garcia, also a member of LSG, said “our table helped show body positivity toward others, you could write something positive to yourself or a friend, make a friendship bracelet or pick up a sticker with a positive affirmation on it.” 

Creating a warm and welcoming environment was what this event was all about. There was plenty of engaging activities to do between all the groups and every table made their own interpretation of what body positivity meant to them.