UOG Horizons: Knowledge for Life - A wellness approach to academic advisement
“In what ways are you balancing life with school right now?” is a question that my students don’t often expect during an academic advisement appointment. As an academic advisor at the University of Guam Margaret Perez Hattori-Uchima School of Health, I advise students pursuing bachelor’s degrees in health-related fields such as social work, nursing, and health science paths of public health, exercise science, and pre-physical therapy.
Aside from the central purpose of promoting health and well-being in our island community, these degree programs have something else in common: the students in these programs withstand a good degree of stress.
Our programs are designed to educate and train future healthcare professionals. They challenge our students in positive ways, but the long hours of memorizing technical content, examining social issues and analyzing health data can quickly lead to burnout when a rigorous academic routine is not balanced well with life.