Throughout the year, Frederick Community College holds fairs and events to help students out with school and extracurricular opportunities and recently, they were at it again.
A wellness fair was held April 19 in FCC’s Cougar Café. Students could visit various tables for job and volunteer opportunities in different fields of wellness. Students were also handed stamp cards, so if they visited a certain number of tables, they would be offered a free lunch.
Counselor Emily Gebhart from the Counseling and Wellness Office at FCC said the goal of the fair is to bring community services to the students. The services featured focus on mental, spiritual, environmental, financial and physical health. There was a wide variety of tables at the fair.
Gebhart said there were 23 organizations in attendance for the Wednesday event.
Among the organizations included were the Mosaic Center, The Umbrella Project, Frederick Health Hospice, DHS Frederick County Department of Social Services, Women in STEM & Woman to Woman Mentoring and the Asian American Center of Frederick.
The wellness fair is a bi-annual event, according to Gebhart, and students can “look for another one in the fall,” she said.
Gebhart also said if any student needs to seek wellness help, the Office of Counseling and Wellness is the best place to look.
The perks and positives of the fair were evident to Karla Posso, 18, a general education major from Frederick. She said it was good to advertise these job opportunities and resources and that’s not all she was looking forward, too, as she said the “free lunch obviously” would help.
“I like all of the mental health help,” said Posso on the wellness fair. She also sought out study help information at the fair as it would be good help with the upcoming stress of finals.
Ife Akimlosotu, a 17-year-old computer science major, was also looking at the many opportunities provided by the fair. Akimlosotu thought the wellness fair helped with finding resources.
“I’m looking for just some ways to help others… find more things to do around here,” he said.
At the time of the interview, Akimlosotu had visited the tables for the Mosaic Center, The Umbrella Project and SHIP or Student Homeless Initiative Partnership of Frederick County.
Ryatt Nance also attended the fair. The 17-year-old biology major from Frederick had visited tables for the Mosaic Center and Umbrella Project.
“It opens up the access to more resources, ways to get involved,” Nance said.
He was at the wellness fair looking for “ways to get involved in the community.” He also was looking for ways to bring help to others and himself.
“I like all of the job opportunities,” said Alexa Schiano Di Cola,18, an education major from Frederick.
She said she also liked the free treats and prizes that the tables offered to students.
Di Cola wanted to look for opportunities “anywhere that needs my help,” and at the time, she had visited the tables for the Mosaic Center, Woman to Woman Mentoring and SHIP.
