The annual Innovate Wellness Challenge registration is open! The Innovate Wellness Challenge is a case competition that encourages students from diverse backgrounds, majors, and interests to come together to solve some of the most pertinent health and wellness issues on campus through the Design Thinking Process.
The UConn Wellness Coalition, in partnership with Student Health and Wellness and OPIM Innovate, brings together students, staff, and faculty from across campus to work towards one vision: UConn as a thriving, connected campus community that supports the full potential of every student.
As a UConn community, we are all responsible for each other’s health and wellbeing to be a thriving, connected campus community, which supports the full potential of every student. Health and wellbeing should always be a focal and foundational pillar, and we are all tasked with recognizing and tackling this charge. Everyone can do their part to ensure that each student succeeds and thrives during their time at UConn and beyond.
Health is more than just the absence of illness and disease; health and wellness are multidimensional and holistic, encompassing lifestyle, mental and spiritual well-being, and the environment. Both our individual and collective community health is unique, dynamic, and complex, which requires unique, dynamic, and complex approaches.
The reason a program like the Innovate Wellness Challenge was started on this campus was to create a culture in which students' voices and ideas were not just heard but developed and implemented. Students themselves can provide a fresh and innovative approach on how to tackle these multifaceted problems.
This year’s Innovate Wellness Challenge asks students to think and develop how we can come together and holistically address the following question:
How can UConn as a whole, improve accessibility and delivery of its services to address the wellbeing of the campus community?
Students can register here and learn more about this year’s challenge on the Innovate Wellness Challenge website. Registration begins on Monday, February 21st and goes on until 11:59 PM on Monday, March 7th. Students may register an entire team or register as an individual in which they will be matched with a team member(s) based on interests and skills.
This is a great chance to develop your problem solving, analytical, and presentation skills while focusing on creating real and implementable solutions.
Teams will compete for prize money scholarships and potential funding money for their idea.
For more information, contact: Paula Kalksma McDowell at innovatewellness@uconn.edu