BYU Women’s Services & Resources began their annual 10-day “Be You” challenge on Wednesday, Sept. 16 with a goal of increasing self-worth, confidence and acceptance in students.
“The Be You 10-day Challenge Campaign was designed to provide education, resources and experiences for our campus community to help with self-acceptance and an understanding of what self-worth really is — not what the world or the media tells us,” director of Women's Services & Resources Dixie Sevison said.
The campaign runs from Sept. 16 to Sept. 25. It includes a series of events as well as individual activities, journal prompts and social media photo challenges.
Some of these events and activities include writing letters to the Primary Children’s Hospital, listening to a message from motivational speaker and BYU professor Hank Smith, and attending yoga and High Fitness Zoom classes.
For each day of the challenge, students can either attend one of the events or complete an activity listed here. They can then be entered into a drawing for prizes including a thread wallet, a hammock and a Polaroid camera.
Campaign specialist Carly Ames said students can pick up a card from the office (3326 WSC) and write down what they do each day, even if they didn’t start from the beginning of the challenge. Students can turn in the card at the closing social on Sept. 25 to be entered into the drawing. The office will contact them if they won a prize.
“One of the issues students — both female and male — tell us they struggle with is perfectionism,” Sevison said.
The purpose of the challenge is to “provide education, resources and experiences to all men and women suffering from perfectionism and lack of self-acceptance,' a statement on the Women’s Services & Resources website said.
At the opening social Wednesday, Women’s Services employees and volunteers handed out cookies and “Be You” T-shirts to introduce the challenge.
“I just hope we get a sense of community from being able to come in and do something in person,” office manager Karen Sorensen said.
When talking about the challenge’s focus on self-worth, Sorensen said, “I feel like people need to know how valuable they are.”
Kezia Dearden, 22, a senior from Texas studying social science teaching, attended the opening social. She said the challenge is a great way for women to connect with and help each other.
“With social media and being in a college environment, I feel like we compare ourselves a lot and that can lead to a decrease in self-worth. Having resources to recognize that self-worth is important,” she said.
Eliza Lahti, program coordinator, said she wants the challenge to help students be more comfortable with themselves and more aware of how they can serve others.
“I think there’s just so many messages out there that tell you to be so many different things and that are always changing. It’s important to have core self-worth to keep up your mental health,” she said.