Meet your 2018–2019 Wellness Peer Educators!
Welcome to our blog! We are a group of students who have one thing in common: we’re passionate about improving the well-being of the Marquette community. With 15 undergraduate WPEs and 3 graduate assistants, we have a big year ahead of us with a lot to get accomplished. Come say hi to us in the Student Wellness Center, located in the 707 building.
Seniors:
Paige Bintz
Major: Psychology with a minor in Spanish for the Health Professions
Future plans: Go into a clinical psych program and hopefully become a psychotherapist specializing in health and advocacy.
Why are you a WPE?: I love being a WPE because I love to promote how important taking care of yourself is. This is especially translatable into the bio-psycho-social model and how all these areas effect our overall wellbeing. I joined this position because I wanted to emphasize this to different student populations as a student myself.
Favorite wellness topic: Mental health
Hobbies: Drinking coffee, thrift shopping, caring for my plant babies, and dancing on HYPE!
Fun fact: I have been to 7 other countries outside of the US!
Hannah Crownover
Major: Biomedical Sciences & Culture, Health, and Illness Minor
Future plans: Physician Assistant Graduate School
Why are you a WPE?: I am a WPE because I am passionate about health and wellness, and want to make sure that every student on Marquette’s campus has the knowledge and resources to take care of all aspects of their well being.
Favorite wellness topic: Nutrition!
Hobbies: Running, reading, hiking, listening to music, playing ukulele
Fun fact: My favorite food is dark chocolate :)
Mary Grace Fries
Major: Social Welfare and Justice, focusing on public health
Why are you a WPE?: I am passionate about giving all people the opportunity to lead a healthy lifestyle and creating community through overall wellness.
Favorite wellness topic: Global Health — striving for health equity worldwide
Hobbies: Hiking, waterskiing, traveling
Fun fact: I studied abroad in Cape Town, South Africa for five months!
Evan Kafka
Major: Psychology
Future plans: I am thinking of doing a gap year of service to better understand what kind of population I want to work with , and then will make my way over to grad school for counseling psychology or social work
Why are you a WPE?: I am a WPE because I love Marquette and want the students attending this school to feel safe and in control of their lives. Talking about various wellness topics with students has been extremely rewarding, and I feel like I am learning as much from them as they may be learning from me.
Favorite wellness topic: Alcohol and other drugs
Hobbies: I like to read, explore Milwaukee, and discover new music
Fun fact: I studied abroad in Spain last fall and have had the travel bug ever since!
Jackie Labonite
Major: Biological Sciences with a minor in Writing-Intensive English
Future plans: Pharmacy school
Why are you a WPE?: I am a WPE because I find advocacy work very empowering and I love giving undergraduates new perspectives about health and wellness.
Favorite wellness topic: Alcohol and other drugs
Hobbies: Hiking and working out!
Fun fact: I can type 107 words per minute
Jasmine Lahori
Major: Gender and Sexuality Studies/Social Welfare and Justice
Why are you a WPE?: I want to be the voice that can open up spaces for every person who has felt left out of the conversation. When it comes to speaking out against Sexual Violence: race, gender, sexuality, socioeconomic status, citizenship, ability, and religion all impact our experiences and reactions. We all have our own story.
Favorite wellness topic: My favorite wellness topic is self-care. We cover a variety of programs and topics but a universal thing college kids need to work on is self-care.
Hobbies: Collecting adult coloring books and Sims 4
Fun fact: I’m a first-generation college student
Caroline Little
Major: Advertising
Future plans: I hope to visit every state in the US after graduation.
Why are you a WPE?: I am a WPE because I want there to be more education on sexual violence prevention. The numbers of incidents are too high and I hope that through education, we can help to fight sexual violence on college campuses.
Favorite wellness topic: Sexual violence prevention
Hobbies: I love to cook!! You can always find me watching cooking shows and trying out the recipes:)
Fun fact: I love tattoos and have a large one on my side of poppy flowers.
Kelly Ray
Major: Biomedical Sciences
Future plans: Applying to graduate nursing programs
Why are you a WPE?: I wanted to be a WPE so I could help people live healthy lives while also learning ways to make my life healthier as well
Favorite wellness topic: De-stressing techniques
Hobbies: Reading
Fun fact: Went on a hiking trip in Iceland
Juniors:
Maggie Coleman
Major: Nursing
Why are you a WPE?: I am a WPE because I am passionate about health and wellness!
Favorite wellness topic: Stress relief
Hobbies: Playing volleyball, hanging out with friends, and being outdoors.
Fun fact: A fun fact about me is that I have swam with wild stingrays in the Cayman Islands.
Kiana Jones
Major: Biomedical Science
Future plans: Medical School
Why are you a WPE?: I want to make a positive mark on campus by providing people with the opportunity to lead healthier lives.
Favorite wellness topic: I enjoy topics in being active by trying out new things like hiking, spinning, and rock climbing.
Hobbies: I like playing and watching sports with my friends and siblings, bike riding, and crafting.
Fun fact: When I was in Eighth Grade, my basketball team had the chance to play on the Chicago Bulls basketball court and got autographs from some of the team.
Monica Patel
Major: Exercise Physiology
Future plans: MU doctorate program for physical therapy
Why are you a WPE?: I think wellness is area that gets put on the back burner in our lives when we have a lot on our plates. I want wellness to be a priority for everyone, not just something when “we have time for it.”
Favorite wellness topic: Mental health and nutrition
Hobbies: Working out, cooking, and hiking
Fun fact: I have a fear of clustered circles — trypophobia
Laura Sienkiewicz
Major: Double-majoring in Biomedical Sciences and Spanish for the Health Professions
Why are you a WPE?: I wanted to be a WPE because I’ve always been super passionate about health and wellness so I wanted to share my passions with the Marquette community and encourage other students to make healthy, balanced lifestyle choices.
Favorite wellness topic: My favorite wellness topics are nutrition, fitness, and mental health (which is why I am SO ecstatic to be a part of the nutrition/mental health project team!)
Hobbies: My hobbies include yoga, traveling, and shopping at Trader Joe’s (my current obsession is the Pesto alla Genovese Basil Pesto and I would highly recommend trying it!)
Fun fact: I am currently working with three other Marquette students on planning a public health brigade to Ghana over winter break!
Rayne Trangsrud
Major: Psychology and Spanish
Future plans: Graduate school
Why are you a Program Assistant?: I want to raise awareness about sexual assault and educate students about it. I want to reduce sexual violence rates on our campus.
Favorite wellness topic: Sexual Violence Prevention
Hobbies: Flying!
Fun fact: I transferred here from Montana State my Sophomore Year, but I am from central WI!
Sophomores:
Colin Fair
Major: Currently in Criminology and Psychology
Why are you a WPE?: I am a WPE because I have had very close friends and family affected by sexual violence and assault, and I want to do my part to make sure others don’t have to go through that.
Favorite wellness topic: Sexual violence prevention
Hobbies: I am an avid fan of Rugby, I enjoy anything related to nature, making music with my older brother, writing poetry, and hanging out with people!
Fun fact: A fun fact about me is that I have been offered to do voice over work two separate times in high school.
Veronica Maniak
Major: Biomedical Sciences
Why are you a WPE?: I wanted to meet more of the Marquette community an dmake a difference in how the student body looks at holistic well-being
Favorite wellness topic: Sleep and nutrition
Hobbies: I love reading, skiing, and videography!
Fun fact: I have seen OneRepublic in concert 6 times!! (Can you tell they’re my favorite band?)
Graduate Assistants:
Aleah Biertzer
Masters degree: Student Affairs in Higher Education
Why are you a WPE graduate assistant?: To be able to work with wonderful students, such as the Wellness Peer Educators, every day!
Favorite wellness topic: Mindfulness and stress relief
Hobbies: Netflix and traveling
Fun fact: I used to race stockers
Nicky Owens
Masters degree: Student Affairs in Higher Education
Why are you a WPE graduate assistant?: Health and Wellness are so important for undergraduate students to be able to take care of themselves, and I’m glad I can help create fun and exciting ways to remind them!
Favorite wellness topic: Mindfulness
Hobbies: Trying new places to eat or coffee shops!
Fun fact: Hot Cheetos are my favorite snack
Follow us on social media!
Facebook: @MUMEDICALCLINIC
Twitter: @MU_MedClinic
Instagram: @MU_WELLNESSPEERS
Email: wellnesspeers@mu.edu
