After last year’s limited social interaction due to COVID-19, the mental health of students on campus is still being impacted as students adjust to what feels like a relatively normal semester, as far as social events go.  However, with the return of a sense of normalcy, some students are concerned that the college is not putting enough focus on the mental health of the student body.

With these concerns at the front of her mind, Emily Hathcock ‘23 is taking action to advocate for the mental health of Wofford students. As the chair of Campus Union’s Wellness and Safety committee, Hathcock has vowed to use her position to promote the mental well-being of her peers. 

Hathcock feels there is much more that the college can do to prioritize students’ mental health. She said that her hope is that all members of the Wofford community can come to an agreement on mental health.  

“Students are struggling, Hathcock said, “Don’t believe that? Go walk into Milliken at 3a.m.. Ask your friends how they’re doing. Bottomline, we need more policy advocating for student’s mental health.”

During the Spring 2021 semester, at the height of the pandemic, the school enacted mental health days for students as a way to ease some of the stress students were undergoing. The Fall 2021 semester has allowed for more social events to resume, indicating the possibility of Wellness Days being a thing of Wofford’s past. 

This has been partially resolved with the implementation of Wellness Wednesday on Nov. 10, but Hathcock said that she plans to reimplement Wellness Days in the same capacity as the Spring 2021 semester. 

“For this semester and following semesters, it is my hope to put a student panel together for mental health,” Hathcock said. “I want to do more but first we have to get a better feel for the overall health of our campus.” 

The mental well being of students is vital to the success of students at any institution, as mental health problems can have negative effects on students’ abilities to concentrate, grades, physical health as well as other consequences. Because of this, providing quality services for mental health should be at the top of Wofford’s priority list. 

For students who are going through turbulent times, Hathcock stressed this sentiment: “Be easy on yourselves. Lean on your support system. Take a deep breath, you’re going to get to where you need to be. Don’t burn yourself out before you even graduate.” 

“I could write a whole letter to the student body as someone who has personally struggled big time with mental health, but for now I want to extend a hand out to anyone who needs it right now, Hathcock said, “We are going to change things because it’s about darn time we do so.” 

what’s really going on… if you still feel as though some things are showful, then change it; you can’t change something being on the corner.”