Ignite Presentation - 5 minutes International Positive Psychology Association 8th IPPA World Congress 2023

FunMax: Creating a culture of play at college (#82)

Max Beers 1
  1. Health and Wellness, William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, United States

Background

 

In 2015, Marks and Wade identified two key goals colleges should pursue to help students flourish, promoting self-identification of strengths and facilitating the experience of positive emotions. While colleges can put structures and resources in place to promote these goals, students must proactively engage to capitalize on them. We report the creation and implementation of a student-initiated campaign to enhance student engagement with wellness resources and to promote the experience of positive emotions.



Aims

 

The goal of this project was to create a student wellness initiative that would appeal to and actively engage William & Mary students.

 

Methods

 

William & Mary Student Wellness Ambassadors created a student spokesperson called FunMax (https://www.wm.edu/offices/wellness/about/funmax/index.php) who promotes wellness initiatives and personal flourishing using a playful, amusing approach. Through the use of in-person activities, social media campaigns, and printed flyers, the Wellness Ambassador team brought awareness to campus-based wellness initiatives, tenets of positive psychology, and created new, low-effort opportunities for students to engage.  Examples include distribution of Silly BandzTM and the creation of interactive displays at on-campus facilities.

 

 

Results

 

The FunMax initiative has reached students at a consistently higher level of engagement than previous William & Mary Health and Wellness outreach. Since launching FunMax in August 2022, the department Instagram has increased from 950 followers to 1238. Additionally, Instagram posts featuring FunMax have averaged over twice as many likes as posts without him. FunMax videos have amassed more than 31,500 views across platforms. This project has successfully changed campus rhetoric around the Health and Wellness services provided, evidenced by school newspaper articles that had been adversarial prior to the project but now highlight wellness resources the school offers. 

 

Conclusion

 

FunMax serves as an example of how student to student interaction effectively promotes undergraduate use of wellness resources.

 

  1. Marks, L. I., & Wade, J. C. (2015). Positive Psychology on Campus: Creating the Conditions for Well-Being and Success. About Campus, 19(6), 9–15. https://doi.org/10.1002/abc.21174
  2. Ambler, V. M., Kelly Crace, R., & Fisler, J. (2015). Nurturing Genius: Positive Psychology as a Framework for Organization and Practice. About Campus, 19(6), 24–28. https://doi.org/10.1002/abc.21176
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