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Wellness Dimensions

Wellness at Gettysburg College

Here at Gettysburg College, wellness is intentional, active and always evolving. It is a set of skills and a state of being that is fostered through individual and collective engagement. Wellness is self-directed, holistic and interconnected with those around us and our environment.

Wellness is built upon a foundation of skills and habits that influence our identity and our sense of belonging. We believe that by actively engaging with these dimensions through opportunities provided during the college years our students learn, grow and thrive in profound ways that have lasting impact.

Engaging with Intellectual Wellness at Gettysburg College

Creating habits and mindsets that encourage critical thinking, analysis, problem solving, creative exploration, and a pursuit of knowledge.

A student presents a project to attendees during an indoor campus showcase.
  • Clubs & Organizations: There are many clubs and organizations at Gettysburg College to support your intellectual wellness. 
  • Eisenhower Institute: Empowering young leaders to tackle society’s most challenging public policy issues in real-time.
  • Internships: These opportunities are a great way to connect what you learn in the classroom to the professional workplace.
  • Research opportunities: Students have the opportunity to engage with and conduct meaningful, hands-on research alongside faculty inside and outside the classroom.
  • Library Services: Students have access to many different Intellectual Wellness resources including The Cupola - Gettysburg College’s institutional repository, which provides a platform for students to share their scholarly and creative work with the world. Research workshops – focused, topic–specific 30–minute workshops that help students through many academic challenges. Special Collections and College Archives – which regularly exhibits documents, photographs, and artifacts from its collections to link the history of the Gettysburg College community to larger societal issues and historical events.
  • Center for Student Success: The Center for Student Success supports students throughout their educational journey, working closely with faculty and other campus partners to remove barriers to students’ academic and personal success.
  • Sunderman Conservatory: A dedicated place for music inside a liberal arts college, a conservatory embedded in a rich intellectual community.
  • Music Ensembles: The Sunderman Conservatory of Music offers a full range of music ensembles -- choral, band, orchestra and jazz. Musically speaking, there is something for everyone.
  • Garthwait Leadership Center: Three GLC programs address this dimension specifically. Participants in the Leadership Certificate work in small groups to help an on-campus partner with a current challenge. Participants in the Community GIGs program also work in groups to present ideas for complex needs of local non-profit organizations. Additionally, participants in the Group Facilitation Fellowship learn group development through dynamic small group low and high rope activities. We also provide custom-designed workshops which use problem solving strategies in their design, in the classroom or on the Challenge Course. 
  • Pathways: Knowledge and enduring skills—the anchors of the Gettysburg Approach—are practiced and deepened within our Guided Pathways and supported by your Personal Advising Team. This holistic and intentional approach to education ensures that every experience on campus—in the classroom and beyond—matters.
  • Center for Public Service: The Center for Public Service engages students, community members, faculty and staff to facilitate partnerships, education, critical thinking and informed action. Through these alliances, we aim to foster social justice by promoting personal, institutional and community change.
  • Center for Career Engagement: Through Student Employment Services, experiential programs, and internships, students practice and enhance enduring skills that can be integrated with the academic curriculum.
  • International Student Services: We hold one on one sessions with students that seek resources for graduate school and long-term career planning. We help them navigate resources on campus and through self-help guides to explore difficult questions they may have when it comes to their academic dilemmas.

Engaging with Financial Wellness at Gettysburg College

Acquiring the knowledge and skills necessary to make informed decisions with financial resources.

Graduates in black academic gowns and blue stoles celebrate on the steps of the Pennsylvania Hall as graduation caps fly overhead.
  • Emergency Fund: The fund assists students who have unexpected emergency expenses during the semester, particularly in situations of crisis, such as illness, the death of a family member or medical emergency.
  • Gender and Sexuality Resource Center - Hera's Closet: Hera's Closet provides clothing, accessories, and shoes for Gettysburg College students. All clothing taken from the closet is free to keep. While Hera's Closet was created as a gender affirming clothing closet for trans and non-binary students, the closet is open to any student who needs clothing.
  • Financial Aid/Scholarships: Gettysburg College is committed to working with students and their families to ensure that the ability to pay does not become an obstacle to a Gettysburg education. Need-based financial aid, academic merit scholarships, and music talent scholarships are available.
  • Student Employment/Handshake: All on-campus jobs are posted in Handshake. All positions are funded through departmental budgets and are available to any student; jobs are not ‘reserved’ for federal work study-eligible students.
  • Health Insurance: All matriculated Gettysburg College students are required to maintain adequate health insurance coverage. Each year, students are required to: (1) enroll in the Gettysburg-sponsored health insurance plan, or (2) request a waiver and submit proof of adequate insurance.
  • Office of Multicultural Engagement: Mosaic Minds & Mosaic Cupboard: The Mosaic Minds was created by a student in 2018. The idea of this program is to help students who need textbook assistance for the whole semester, free of charge. Mosaic Cupboard was created by the OME staff in August of 2018. The cupboard provides toiletries and other essential items to students currently enrolled at Gettysburg College.
  • Center for Career Engagement: Through conversations about personal finances, salary negotiation, and transitioning from school to the workplace, we address financial wellness. We also help students with funding issues when they are trying to participate in internships and experiential opportunities.
  • International Student Services: When we take our students to the Social Security Office to get a social security number, we often hold a workshop informing students on credit cards and how to build strong credit. In addition, during new student orientation we inform students on internships, on-campus job opportunities, CPT, and OPT to help them earn financial independence.
  • Library Services: The library supports instructors in the adoption of open textbooks and library materials in order to make course materials more affordable to students. The library’s Course Materials Collection allows students or instructors to request the library acquire a copy of their textbook in a way that’s accessible to the largest number of students

Engaging with Social Wellness at Gettysburg College

Understanding that we are interdependent while developing the skills necessary for cultivating and maintaining connection and to constructively work through conflict.

Students sit together in Adirondack chairs on a campus lawn, talking and spending time outdoors.
  • Center for Career Engagement - connectGettysburg: Is the College’s official online engagement, networking, and mentoring platform. Alumni, students, parents, friends of the College, and employees connect and reconnect with each other, provide career advice to students and alumni, grow their own professional network, share and pursue career opportunities, and learn more about events and ways to get involved.
  • Center for Public Service: The Center for Public Service engages students, community members, faculty and staff to facilitate partnerships, education, critical thinking and informed action. Through these alliances, we aim to foster social justice by promoting personal, institutional and community change.
  • Office of Multicultural Engagement: The Office of Multicultural Engagement promotes an inclusive campus culture, one where students are encouraged to engage through participation in initiatives and programs which stress the value of diversity at Gettysburg College. Through campus programming, student engagement, and cultural immersion, the office seeks to create distinctive opportunities for healthy discourse, allowing students to feel empowered sharing aspects of their own diversity, which will benefit their cultural competency.
  • Residential Education: The mission of the Office of Residential Education is to empower students to actively engage with the Gettysburg College community by fostering a safe and inclusive environment, supporting developmental transitions, offering opportunities to learn and grow, and strategically managing residential communities.
  • Office of Student Activities & Greek Life: The Office of Student Activities & Greek Life provides opportunities to engage in diverse co-curricular programs rooted in institutional values to enrich the students' social experience and create an inclusive campus community.
  • EngageGettysburg: The official campus community platform at Gettysburg College. Use EngageGettysburg to find activities, workshops, and events on campus. 
  • Campus Recreation: Campus Recreation promotes healthy lifestyle choices and social interactions in an environment that values individual differences. Campus Recreation sponsors and supports club sports, intramural sports, and the use of the Ortenzio Fitness Room and Bullets Pool for all students. 
  • International Student Services: Each month we hold Birthday Parties to recognize and invite students to a safe space to celebrate themselves and each other. Students connect with each other and get a chance to step away from their academic pressure and enjoy a light evening of cake and relaxation. We also hold Workshops on a variety of topics including dating and relationship to promote healthy boundaries, how to combat loneliness, and how to navigate breaks to help student manage stress and loneliness when they miss their family and friends in a new country.
  • Identity based clubs and Organizations: There are many clubs and organizations at Gettysburg College. Find one that interests and supports your social wellness.
  • Garthwait Leadership Center: In all our programs, we facilitate "connection before content" through walk-in activities, check-in questions, and group development strategies. Formal programs include: Ascent, Outdoor Trips, the Leadership Certificate, the Group Facilitation Fellowship, the Eisenhower Leadership Conference, and the January Leadership Expedition. We also provide custom-designed workshops on topics related to group development and conflict transformation in the classroom or on the Challenge Course.
  • Sexual Respect and Title IX office: Support for reported misconduct- This service allows for those who have experienced some sort of interpersonal harm to come to an informal resolution with the person who caused the harm. It is a voluntary process that both parties would agree to move forward with. Consent Fair- Teaches the importance of consent to students while also connecting them to on and off campus resources. Various Workshops and Presentations by request or scheduled programmatically that focus on consent and healthy relationships.
  • Library Services: The library hosts regular opportunities for students to gather and get a break from their studies with programs like Crafternoon, 3@3, #BookTalk, and more!

Engaging with Emotional Wellness at Gettysburg College

Developing emotional self-awareness and skills to effectively express and manage emotions in a healthy manner.

Three students walk together outdoors, smiling and laughing.
  • Counseling and Wellness Services: Our focus is on helping students to develop deeper selfawareness and to acquire the necessary skills and resources to thrive during their college years and beyond.
  • Residential Education: The mission of the Office of Residential Education is to empower students to actively engage with the Gettysburg College community by fostering a safe and inclusive environment, supporting developmental transitions, offering opportunities to learn and grow, and strategically managing residential communities.
  • BetterMynd: BetterMynd’s teletherapy platform provides free access to confidential teletherapy. Students have access to immediate, secure, and convenient online counseling services.
  • Peers Educating and Encouraging Peers to Succeed (PEEPS): The Peers Educating and Encouraging Peers to Succeed (PEEPS) program is designed to increase awareness and reduce stigma related to mental health amongst college students. The PEEPS program strives to create a healthy campus culture and provides peer-to-peer support to increase student connectedness, academic success and emotional wellness.
  • PsychPals: Psych P.A.L.S. (Peer and Learning Support) connects Gettysburg Psychology students with a community of peer support within the department. P.A.L.S. will be there for students as they choose classes, declare a major, navigate life as a psychology major, and more.
  • Center for Religious & Spiritual Life: Pastoral Care: We provide opportunities to explore religious and spiritual life as part of our formation in lives of meaning and purpose. We do this with a spirit of joy, gratitude, and acceptance in keeping with the inclusive tradition of Gettysburg College.
  • Sexual Respect and Title IX office: Consent Fair- teaches the importance of consent to students will also connecting them to on and off campus resources. Various workshops and presentations by request or scheduled programmatically focus on consent and healthy relationships held throughout the year.
  • Center for Career Engagement: Through career counseling we offer support and reflection on particular topics, challenges, and opportunities. 
  • International Student Services: We offer workshops on how to combat homesickness while in the U.S and Gettysburg. In addition, we offer guidance on how to break away from the pressure of academics and expectations set by their families in their home country and for students to find their own path.
  • Garthwait Leadership Center: In many of our programs, we teach aspects of emotional intelligence in leadership. We encourage students to name their emotions and identify wishes and behaviors they would like to enact to enhance their self-management strategies. We also use mindfulness in our programs to generate awareness of emotions. Formal programs include: Ascent, Outdoor Trips, the Leadership Certificate, the Group Facilitation Fellowship, the Eisenhower Leadership Conference, and the January Leadership Expedition. We also provide custom-designed workshops on topics related to emotional intelligence in the classroom or on the Challenge Course.

Engaging with Physical Wellness at Gettysburg College

Adopting and maintaining healthy habits for sleep, exercise, nutrition, sexual health, and substance use in addition to knowing how to access care when sick or to prevent illness and injury.

A person raises both arms while standing on a rocky overlook above a coastal city and mountain landscape.
  • Wellspan Health Services: The Health Center by WellSpan office promotes healthy lifestyles and decision-making, and encourages all students to play the central role in their own healthwhich can involve everything from taking part in Center-sponsored health education programs to simply seeking treatment at the onset of illness or injury.
  • Campus Recreation: Campus Recreation promotes healthy lifestyle choices and social interactions in an environment that values individual differences. Campus Recreation sponsors and supports club sports, intramural sports, and the use of the Ortenzio Fitness Room and Bullets Pool for all students.
  • International Student Services: Through multiple different workshops we provide information and support for students’ physical wellness needs. In addition, we provide transportation and resources to students if they need to be seen in clinics outside the college.

Engaging with Cultural Wellness at Gettysburg College

Being knowledgeable, understanding and respectful of diversity through identifying and practicing one’s values, engaging in affirming experiences and contributing to a positive, inclusive environment.

Two students perform together at an indoor cultural event while an audience watches
  • Center for Religious & Spiritual Life: We provide students with opportunities to explore religious and spiritual life as part of our formation in lives of meaning and purpose. We do this with a spirit of joy, gratitude, and acceptance in keeping with the inclusive tradition of Gettysburg College.
  • Gender and Sexuality Resource Center: Our mission is to ensure that every single member of the Gettysburg College campus community has access to learning more about gender and sexuality on campus. We strive to establish a culture of support on campus, for every person to feel safe and empowered to be their authentic selves.
  • Office of Multicultural Engagement: Through campus programming, student engagement, and cultural immersion, the Office of Multicultural Engagement seeks to create distinctive opportunities for healthy discourse, allowing students to feel empowered sharing aspects of their own diversity, which will benefit their cultural competency.
  • International Student Services: Our office tries to break down barriers by hosting events and workshops that bring students together to learn from one another to understand each other's background and unique cultures. Additionally, students sometimes turn to our office when they are in distress with fellow students from their home country and when they have conflicts with other international students. We try to mediation through education and open discussions.
  • Garthwait Leadership Center: Although all of our programs encourage participants to appreciate/engage diversity, and practice inclusion, we have several programs that teach these skills and dispositions more directly. For example, in our Outdoor Trips, participants develop a shared group agreement (Full Value Contract) which teaches them to appreciate difference. Additionally, the Leadership Certificate participants learn about the social change model for leadership and reflect upon their social identities. We have also custom-designed workshops related to diversity and inclusion in the classroom or on the Challenge Course, using tools such as a cultural simulation.
  • Center for Public Service: The Center for Public Service engages students, community members, faculty and staff to facilitate partnerships, education, critical thinking and informed action. Through these alliances, we aim to foster social justice by promoting personal, institutional and community change.
  • Theater Arts: The Theatre Arts Department at Gettysburg College explores the history and importance of live performance. This interdisciplinary field encompasses the work of creating and presenting performances while fostering empathy, self-expression, and cultural literacy.
  • Center for Career Engagement: Through programs and events, Student Employment Services, and targeted experiential funding, CCE encourages engaging in affirming experiences and helping cultivate and reinforce inclusive environments.
  • Library Services: Student led book displays – Monthly book displays are a part of the library’s engagement with the campus community. As part of this work, students regularly take part in the extensive work of selecting and vetting books for the display. Student led displays are often curated to help the campus community understand different dimensions of identity and diversity. Past book displays by students include Hispanic Heritage Month, Women in STEM, and One Vote.

Engaging with Community Wellness at Gettysburg College

Engaging in the impactful relationship between person and environment by participating in acts of social responsibility, stewardship and advocacy.

Five students volunteers pose together outdoors at a community service event. Intellectual wellness: A student presents a project to attendees during an indoor campus showcase.
  • Student Senate: The Student Senate of Gettysburg College, being elected and appointed by our peers, dedicate ourselves to the betterment of higher education and student life in the campus community. Our focus is to provide a representative, unifying, and responsible government for students.
  • Office of Student Activities & Greek Life: The Office of Student Activities & Greek Life provides opportunities to engage in diverse co-curricular programs rooted in institutional values to enrich the students' social experience and create an inclusive campus community.
  • Center for Public Service: The Center for Public Service engages students, community members, faculty and staff to facilitate partnerships, education, critical thinking and informed action. Through these alliances, we aim to foster social justice by promoting personal, institutional and community change.
  • Eisenhower Institute: The Eisenhower Institute at Gettysburg College connects aspiring young leaders with public policy experts to discover their passion and tackle society’s most challenging issues.
  • Garthwait Leadership Center: Many of our programs help students think and act in service of their communities. Leadership Certificate participants work in small groups to help an oncampus partner with a current challenge. Participants in the Community GIGs program also work in groups to present ideas for complex needs of local non-profit organizations.
  • Additionally, on our Outdoor Trips, we teach and encourage groups to practice "Leave No Trace" which supports this dimension. We also provide custom-designed workshops on topics related to social responsibility in the classroom or on the Challenge Course.
  • Residential Education: The mission of the Office of Residential Education is to empower students to actively engage with the Gettysburg College community by fostering a safe and inclusive environment, supporting developmental transitions, offering opportunities to learn and grow, and strategically managing residential communities.
  • Office of Student Rights & Responsibilities: The Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities strives to support students in achieving the best possible outcome by creating community standards and guidelines that are supportive of their success. 
  • EngageGettysburg: The official campus community platform at Gettysburg College. Use EngageGettysburg to find activities, workshops, and events on campus.
  • Campus Safety: Gettysburg College is concerned about the safety and welfare of its students, faculty and staff, and visitors, and is committed to providing a safe and secure environment.
  • Gender and Sexuality Resource Center: Our mission is to ensure that every single member of the Gettysburg College campus community has access to learning more about gender and sexuality on campus. We strive to establish a culture of support on campus, for every person to feel safe and empowered to be their authentic selves.
  • Office of Multicultural Engagement: The Office of Multicultural Engagement promotes an inclusive campus culture, one where students are encouraged to engage through participation in initiatives and programs which stress the value of diversity at Gettysburg College. Through campus programming, student engagement, and cultural immersion, the office seeks to create distinctive opportunities for healthy discourse, allowing students to feel empowered sharing aspects of their own diversity, which will benefit their cultural competency.
  • International Student Services: We encourage students to apply for campus programs and service positions and trips to help them connect locally and globally. Our office will help students’ complete applications, secure grants and scholarships to continue their advocacy and education.
  • Center for Career Engagement: Through Community GIGs and select internship, externship, and immersion experiences, students engage with the community and socially responsible approaches.