SUNY Oswego’s Live Well Living Learning Community (LLC) gives first-year students the opportunity to be part of a community focused on health and wellness.
Live Well is based in Oneida Hall, and residents can take the Health Sciences 198: “Be Well at Oswego” class as part of the experience.
“Live Well focuses on the eight dimensions of well-being. Each dimension -- social, emotional, intellectual, financial, physical, occupational, spiritual and environmental –- is all addressed in the class,” said Amy Bidwell, faculty mentor of Live Well from the Health Promotion and Wellness (HPW) Department. “We usually do hands-on activities such as going to Rice Creek for environmental well-being.”
Topics such as using your strengths to change your habits, adopting a growth mindset, developing better time management skills and understanding the importance of stress in development are among the subjects addressed.
“The class was a great introduction to Oswego and assimilating to college life as a whole,” said Carter Stone, a current student in Live Well. “It was also a great way to grow closer with the other LLC members. Some of my best friends on campus are people I met within the LLC community and I am very grateful for that.”
“I also have been training well-being coaches who are upper-class HPW majors who sit in the class with me and work as peer mentors for the students,” Bidwell said.
“As a lead figure for the program, it was great,” said Michael-Daniel Vodzogbe, student coach and assistant hall director for Live Well. “It gave me the opportunity to meet more of the new generation and encourage them to practice healthy habits. It has made college more manageable for me because they felt like family.”
Vodzogbe is on track to graduate this May with a master’s in the university’s new online program in health promotion and behavioral wellness, after earning a bachelor’s in wellness management from Oswego. So seeing this effort succeed is fulfilling on multiple levels.
“A benefit of being in an LLC is the shared community. All of the students for the Live Well LLC shared a common interest in wellness. I loved this because with wellness as a foundation, positive growth is inevitable,” said Vodzogbe.
Bidwell is looking to implement a one-credit course for students who are part of the Live Well LLC to take their second semester. That course will focus more on students using their strengths to find meaning and purpose in life.
Bidwell adds that all students could benefit from being in one of the university’s Living Learning Communities. “Specifically, one that develops the skills necessary to flourish and thrive in college and beyond,” Bidwell noted.
All In is one of three LLCs that seeks to provide opportunities to connect, grow and thrive – also including Be First, supporting first-generation students, and All In, supporting LGBTQ+ students and their allies. Watch Oswego Today for stories on these other communities.
–- Written by Gianna Cowell of the Class of 2026
