Changing health attitudes + actions to recreate girls
CHAARG
You are probably wondering, what in the world is CHAARG? When I first started college, at Indiana University, I thought the same thing. Heading into college, I was looking for an organization full of girls who wanted to stay fit and healthy during college. Long story short, and after meeting a few people on campus, I found CHAARG and instantly fell in love. CHAARG stands for changing health attitudes and actions to recreate girls. In short, CHAARG was everything I was looking for when I joined. We are an organization full of women who build each other up. We believe that fitness can and should be fun. We meet weekly to experience all different ways you can work out, while enjoying it! Additionally, we promote body positivity and mental health. We believe that over all, college women should feel confident in the skin they are in. Women should be able to have fun while working out, so why not work out with a group of girls who want to as well?
During my first semester at Indiana, applications came out for a new executive bored. I was so obsessed with CHAARG (I did not miss a single event) that I applied for the position even though I was only a freshman. After applying, and interviewing for secretary, I was then chosen for the position. I was over the moon and ecstatic to be on
the executive bored. While I was the youngest on the bored, I knew I was able to step up to the plate, and be an amazing secretary. Being on the executive bored at such a young age was an amazing experience. I learned how to lead a group of women who were all older than me, interact and collaborate with seniors in college while falling in love with fitness at the same time. During my second semester Freshman year, I decided to transfer closer to home due to be from New Jersey. I was absolutely heart broken that I had to step down from my executive position and felt as though I was letting down the team. Once I decided to transfer to University of Connecticut, I promised the Indiana Ambassador (who I still keep in close contact with) that I was going to start a chapter at UConn. I knew in my heart that more college's needed this organization and more women needed to have this experience.
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In my second semester of my sophomore year at UConn, I did it, I applied to become Ambassador of CHAARG at University of Connecticut. After a written/video application, a three step interview process, and an 8-week training program, I was off and set to start CHAARG at UConn. However, no one at UConn knew what CHAARG was but me. I had to start from the ground up. I met with University officials daily to have CHAARG become a recognized organization before the end of my spring semester sophomore year. I passed out flyers on my own outside and inside of popular area's where students hang out. I sent out countless emails to my classes, sororities on campus, and any email list I could get my hand's on. I posted endlessly on Facebook and Instagram about applying to be on my executive team. Anyone reading my emails or posts probably thought I was nuts, but I believed in myself. Eventually, I had 10 girls apply for 6 positions on my executive board. None of them knew what they were getting themselves into but they were intrigued to find out.
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That summer, after my sophomore year, my executive team and I had countless video calls in order for CHAARG to happen here at UConn. It took many hours of planning, plenty of phone calls to instructors and studios, and a few tears in between. I knew in my heart CHAARG was going to be a "thing" at UConn, but I did not know how the student body was going to take it. When heading back to school for the fall semester of my Junior year, it was time for our chapter to flourish. The first week of school, we had a booth on the main road on campus at our student involvement fair. At first, I was nervous that many girls on campus would not be interested in our organization, however, I was wrong. That day, we had over 500 girls interested in CHAARG and write their email down for more information. I swear I was running around like a chicken with out a head handing out flyers. I was so excited, that I did not stop for 6 hours straight. Finally, the hard work, the training, the countless calls, and few tears were paying off. My CHAARG baby at UConn was finally flourishing. With in our first semester on campus, we were able to touch the lives of 160 girls. We were able to create a community full of positivity, health, wellness, happiness, and fitness for 160 girls!
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Fast forward, and now a second semester senior, we have grown UConn CHAARG to 300 members within only a year and a half on campus. While I can not believe how fast CHAARG has taken off, I am incredibly proud of the organizations accomplishments in less than 2 years. As it is now my second semester in my senior year, I am sad but proud, to pass of the role as Ambassador. I am looking forward to watching CHAARG continue to grow at University of Connecticut.
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as I always end my newsletter's....
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++ CHAARG on,
Gabs
