Reporter autumn2010 -a - Franklin Alumni Network - Franklin College

College launches Wellness Program
In keeping with its strong liberal arts tradition of encouraging a balanced life through
the development of a sound mind and body, Franklin College has launched a new yearlong
Wellness Program. The program emphasizes that wellness is an active process and
espouses the motto “be, go, do.”
The program kicked off in September with a Wellness Fair in the Johnson Atrium of
the Napolitan Student Center, providing a glimpse of wellness services available on campus
and in the community. The fair also included a registration station where students and
employees could sign up for Get Healthy Franklin, a citywide wellness initiative and
collaborative effort among Franklin Community Schools, Franklin Mayor Fred Paris,
Franklin College President Jay Moseley and Johnson Memorial Hospital. Many local
businesses and restaurants offer discounts and incentives to those who show their
Get Healthy Franklin membership card. The membership fee has been waived for college
students and employees.
The college’s Wellness Program was created as a way to help grow the Get Healthy
Franklin initiative. Several college alumni and employees serve on supervisory teams
for both. Keri Ellington, director of student activities and organizations, is among them.
“We are hoping to empower students, faculty and staff to make responsible and positive
choices while creating and maintaining a healthy lifestyle,” said Ellington.
Participation in the Wellness Program is free of cost to the campus community. The
program features a series of Active Thursdays, during which individuals can try a variety
of exercise classes, participate in fun, calorie-burning activities or attend a lecture series
on ways to enhance physical, social, emotional, spiritual, intellectual and environmental
wellness. The college’s food services provider, Sodexo, a program partner, has revised
its menu to provide additional healthy menu options. Several new 500-calorie or under
selections are available in the student dining hall.
Upcoming Wellness Program events at the college are free and open to the public.
Call (317) 738-8185 to request more details.
Maj. Gen. R. Martin Umbarger, Adjutant
General of Indiana, facilitated bringing
the program to campus.
TAPS is a resource for anyone who has
suffered the loss of a military loved one.
The program includes peer-based emotional
support, case-work assistance, crisis intervention
and grief and trauma resources.
Franklin College continues outreach to
military personnel and their families with
the help of a $12,000 grant through
Operation Diploma. The program is an
initiative of the Military Family Research
Institute (MFRI) at Purdue University, with
funding from the Lilly Endowment.
Operation Diploma is equipping
Franklin College to better serve and
support students serving in the military,
veterans entering college for the first time,
military members re-entering college
after extended service or deployment and
families of military members/veterans.
Becky (Rominger) Roberts '05, a health
services counselor at Franklin College,
oversees the campus' Student Veteran
Support Team (SVST). Several team
members attended specialized training
over the summer to aid in the development
of Franklin's Operation Diploma
program and policies.
College studies
service-learning impact,
creates support team
Franklin College recently was awarded an $8,000 grant
to conduct a two-year study as part of the Bringing
Theory to Practice Project, sponsored by the Charles
Engelhard Foundation of New York City and developed
in partnership with the Association of American Colleges
and Universities.
The project was developed to encourage colleges to
reassert their core purposes, to not only advance
learning but to advance the potential of each student
and to advance education as sustenance for society. The
project supports campus initiatives that demonstrate how
engaged learning can directly contribute to cognitive,
emotional and civic development.
Franklin College will use its grant to study the impact
of integrated service learning on the well-being,
engagement, academic performance and retention of
first-semester students, with a focus on first-generation
scholars. Franklin uses service learning as a teaching
method to link academic study and community service,
strengthening each in the process. All students are
required to participate in a minimum of two servicelearning
courses, though many students go beyond the
requirement.
To build upon the meaningful learning opportunities
that Franklin College has offered students for years,
Brooke (Wagoner) Worland ’99 transitioned from her
role as registrar to assistant dean of engaged
learning/director of professional development this fall.
She facilitates the college’s multidisciplinary Engaged
Learning Team, which also includes Kirk Bixler, director
of career services, Keri Ellington, director of student
activities, Justin Gash, undergraduate research program
committee chairman, Tim Garner ’79, associate dean
and director of faculty development, Doug Grant,
service-learning coordinator, Simone Pilon, director of
study-abroad programs and the Intercultural Honors
Experience, and Bonnie Pribush, director of leadership
development.
“The Engaged Learning Team is focused on improving
efficiency among existing programs and networking to
help our colleagues in every division use each other as
resources to support engaged learning opportunities,”
said Worland.
By definition, engaged learning integrates more than
one discipline and allows students to participate in reallife
activities through collaboration, exploration and discovery
with their peers. The Engaged Learning Team’s
work aligns with the college’s Strategic Plan, adopted by
the board of trustees in February 2010. Strategic Plan
goals include ensuring that every student has the Franklin
College experience of engaged learning, leadership and
professional development.
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