Abigail Fellin | Contributing Writer

Buena Vista University (BVU) students celebrated themselves in Pierce-White residence halls over February 22-26 with #ImWorthIt: A Week of Self Worth.

“I feel like in today’s society we put ourselves on the back burner in so many different ways so it’s about reminding ourselves we are worth it,” Matt Schulz, a Pierce-White resident advisor and a leader of the event, said.

The events Schulz and Luke Hastie, also a resident advisor of Pierce-White and co-leader of the event, planned revolved around the idea that everyone is worth it. The week started Monday morning with students waking up to blacked out mirrors and messages promoting finding beauty within ourselves and not reflections.

“They don’t need society telling them how they should look or how they should feel. That they just need to be themselves, and that no matter what they’re going through they should always feel positive about themselves,” Hastie explained.

Continuing the theme of finding beauty, Tuesday students were asked to write down one thing they love about themselves, and Wednesday compliments and candy were given freely to any student who walked through the main lobby of Pierce-White.

Schulz and Hastie say the best part of the week is connecting with residents and watching people’s reactions.

“People just aren’t quite used to getting a compliment… They’re a little taken a back by it, don’t really know how to react.” Schulz said.

Hastie and Schulz believe that they managed to reach out to almost every resident of Pierce-White, averaging 100 people a day.

A week of self worth coincided with National Eating Disorder Awareness week, which was interweaved with the week’s events. According to National Eating Disorder Association’s website, over 30 million people in the United States have suffered from a eating disorder.

Mandy Boothby, the counselor on campus, believes there is a serious problem with self esteem on BV’s campus. For the month of February, Boothby had signs hung up in bathrooms to talk about self esteem in relation to media.

“Media has a huge affect on how people view themselves. Especially college students who spend a large portion of time on the Internet,” Boothby said.

Eating disorders are considered a silent illness because of how secretive it is. In most cases, very few people know when someone is suffering from one. Due to this, it is very seldom talked about, even though there is at least one case of an eating disorder a year on campus according to Boothby.

Self worth week touched on eating disorders on Thursday by handing out pamphlets of information and giving students the ability to take a self assessment on their eating habits.

On Friday all of these elements came together in the final celebration in the main lobby of Pierce-White. The evening was filled with painting, photo booths, and positivity, and ended with drawings for several different prizes to those who participated throughout the week.

Being the second year for this event, Hastie and Schulz hope that this event continues to grow every year and continue to make a difference in student’s lives.

“At the end of the day, we just want students to realize they are worth it,” Schulz said. “They really are.”

Graphics by Dee Friesen