SUNY Oswego’s annual Mental Health and Wellness Fair will unfold this Friday, Sept. 26, with the signing of the Okanagan Charter, a commitment to wellness, to follow.

The fair will take place outside, between Marano Campus Center and Penfield Library, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. It is open to all Oswego students, staff and faculty with no admission fee.

The Mental Health and Wellness Fair is a collaborative event with departments across campus and off-campus groups tabling to promote well-being to the Laker family. 

Shelly Sloan, assistant dean of students for student well-being, said a wide range of groups will offer a variety of interactive activities, information and services. 

“The idea is that each table would have an activity that would relate back to a dimension of wellness,” Sloan said. “Some might have multiple, some might just have one, but the idea is that they would engage with [the group’s] table on an activity.”

Students will be given a paper passport to get stamped at each table. Once the passport is filled, students can go to the registration table to be entered into the raffle to win prizes, Sloan said. Prizes include weighted blankets, gift baskets, headphones, water bottles, journals, fidget spinners and more. 

Some of the groups in attendance will include the university’s Office of the Dean of Students, Counseling Services and its COPE (Counseling Outreach Peer Educators) team, Student Engagement and Leadership, University Police and Campus Recreation, with off-campus agencies including the  Food Bank of Central New York and the Farnham Family Services, among many others. 

Students' favorite tabling events will be in attendance, such as a therapy dog and University Police’s “seat belt relay races,” Sloan said. 

The event helps students put resources into practice, said Brian Wallace, director of campus recreation.

The fair, he said, “is not just a resource” but a way to get students thinking and practicing well-being.

In case of inclement weather, the event will be moved inside to Marano Campus Center’s upper concourse at the same time. 

Charter signing

In correlation with the fair, SUNY Oswego will sign the Okanagan Charter and join the United States Health Promoting Campuses Network. The program asks post-secondary schools to ensure wellness is a top campus priority. 

Oswego is the third SUNY school to adopt the charter, as well as the 43rd college campus across the country to sign, Wallace said. 

“[Signing the charter] means that we're putting well-being at the forefront of what we do,” Sloan said. “We're prioritizing [well-being] as an institution, which I think is important, and every institution can determine their own way of what that looks like for them.”

Membership and the charter’s aims support the Thrive driver of the university’s strategic plan, Transforming Lives, Igniting Possibilities.

The signing will take place at 3:45 p.m. on Friday in Hewitt Hall, near of the ballroom entrance. SUNY Oswego’s President Peter O. Nwosu will sign the Okanagan Charter to show Oswego’s commitment to well-being to make it official. 

-- Written by Natalie Glosek of the Class of 2026