Students lined up by the dozens for a slice of pie and wellness at BYU Belonging’s "Check Your PIESS" event in celebration of National Pi Day on March 14.
This event was the fourth biannual event hosted by the Office of Belonging.
Lita Little Giddins, BYU’s associate vice president of belonging and the event’s organizer, said the aim of the event was to help students connect with each and with campus wellness resources.
“It brings the students and community together in a really cool way, with a specific focus on community wellness for our campus,” Giddins said.
The PIESS acronym stands for the key aspects of wellness: physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual.
The event featured booths with representatives from multiple campus departments, including the University Advisement Center, Exercise Science, Museum of Art, School of Dance and the BYU Chaplain’s Office.
In addition to giving out free pie, T-shirts, prizes and stickers, the event was designed for students to engage with different aspects of wellness through interactive booths. Each department in attendance had care experts inform students on unique wellness topics and connect them with resources on campus.
For many students, the event introduced them to lesser-known campus resources. Reena Stevens, a chemical engineering major, shared how she found the event to be helpful for learning about resources on campus.
“I feel like the pie is a great way to attract people to come and learn about other things, because there’s definitely some things I didn’t even know existed until coming here,” Stevens said.
Brenna Bass, a math education major, has attended multiple wellness events and shared how she found them to be beneficial.
“I really enjoy these because I actually came away with good tips for how to actually improve my life so that was awesome,” Bass said.
Going beyond pies and prizes, the Office of Belonging hoped the event would help students build connections. Esther Grover, a belonging administrative assistant, said one of the key goals was to combat isolation and have students connect.
“Since COVID, people are more turned in. There’s an epidemic of loneliness,” Grover said.
Giddins hopes that the wellness events will forge great connections between students and help eliminate loneliness.
"We are a very huge campus, but the more you know who's here, where your resources are and the many spaces you belong, it makes the camps more intimate,” Giddins said.
For the future Check Your PIESS Wellness events, Giddins said she hopes the event will continue to grow, making campus feel more connected with one another.