Murray State’s Women’s Center, the School of Nursing, the Wellness Center and the master’s program for clinical psychology held the Better Weigh program in the Curris Center Dance Lounge Monday.

Stemmed from the upcoming National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, the program was organized by the Women’s Center in an effort to promote not only awareness of eating disorders, but also to inform students about nutrition, healthy exercise habits and increase self-image.

“We started planning the event in early January, and we wanted to do something that would complement The Room with the View program that we do at the end of February for Eating Disorder Awareness week,” said Abigail French, Women’s Center representative and event coordinator. “We wanted to do an event to supplement it that would promote just general health, and not necessarily just eating disorders. ”

The event included various sections that informed students about general wellness.

The School of Nursing offered body fat percentage readings and information on each person’s healthy range based on their height and build.

The master’s program for clinical psychology offered surveys to analyze student’s personal eating attitudes regarding their body image.

The program also offered immediate feedback to students in a private space to speak about their results

and also offered handouts about areas on campus to get help, including group counseling to deal with body-image issues.

The event also featured more relaxed tables such as the Scale of Fortune, which allowed students to denote some of the negative feelings associated with weight scales.

Upon stepping on a scale in a sectioned-off area, students were happily surprised to find numbers covered and replaced with alternating small color tabs. Students received a small fortune from a basket matching the color on which they landed. All of

the fortunes were uplifting, motivational and never varied in their positive message.

“Believe in yourself and everyone else will do the same,” one such fortune read.

In addition to the various booths, the Dance Lounge was framed by stand-up cardboard silhouettes of all body shapes and sizes offering health, nutrition and body-image advice, allowing students to peruse the area and find help on every side.

The silhouettes were a favorite among many students as they showcased not only facts, but that each body is unique.

“I really liked the silhouettes,” said Jenna Salza, freshman from Franklin, Ky. “They looked really cool and made the entire event that much better.

It was awesome, too, that no two cutouts were the same. Each one was completely different from the one next to it.”

Story by Shannon MacAllister, Staff writer.