Love Your Body Day was a celebration of body positivity for the Shippensburg University community on Monday at 4 p.m. in the CUB Multipurpose Room. 

The annual event is hosted by both the Pride and Gender Equity (PAGE) Center and the Women’s and Gender Studies program. It promotes self-love while giving various campus groups a chance to promote themselves. 

“I want people to take away a sense that everybody on campus should love themselves,” said Karmen Alicea, a peer educator for the PAGE Center. 

The event held four short performances or activities, all relating to either physical or mental health. Participation in the activities would enter attendees into a raffle for one of four prize baskets, each containing items related to self-care. 

The first of these activities was a salsa dancing lesson hosted by the Latino Student Organization. Students paired off to dance as the music played. 

Shortly after the dance lesson ended, Emily Brewer of The Reflector, the University’s literary journal, took the stage. She read four poems, the first three being her original work and the last being “The Type,” by Sarah Kay. 

The next activity was guided meditation with Professor Toru Sato. The room became nearly silent, with Sato’s voice guiding the participants through breathing and stretching exercises. 

The final activity was a group work out. A video from the YouTube channel “The Fitness Marshall” was displayed for students to follow along. The video featured a man and woman doing a workout standing up along with a woman doing the workout sitting down, which showed that the exercises could be modified for those with a disability. 

In addition to these activities, the Office of Accessibility Resources offered a short quiz on online accessibility. Participants would be presented with different typefaces, sizes and colors of text and would choose the most accessible option in exchange for being entered in a raffle for a movie night themed basket. 

There were also more independent activities for students to partake in, such as vision board making and other arts and crafts projects. 

SU student Abigail Koons appreciated the different options presented to attendees. 

“I like how there’s a variety of activities to do. It gets everyone involved,” said Koons. 

Several campus groups and organizations were present, each with its own contribution to the overall message of the event. Some of these include the ELITE Modeling Troupe giving modeling walk lessons to promote self-confidence, D.I.V.A.S displaying a mirror to write positive affirmations on and SU’s chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) giving out coloring sheets along with information about mental health and their organization’s mission. 

Other clubs utilized the event to promote themselves. SU’s chapter of It’s On Us, an organization dedicated to combating campus sexual assault, held a bike raffle. To enter, students watched two short videos and answered a few questions about the videos. 

Along with promoting body positivity, Love Your Body Day served to give students a space to have fun before the upcoming break. 

“This has been a challenging semester. I think all of us are exhausted right now,” said Misty Knight, the director of the Women’s and Gender Studies program. “I hope this can give us a boost to get us through the next week.” 

The event was full of messages about self-acceptance, whether that be for body image, disabilities or sexuality. 

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