Eckerd College students focused on well-being by disconnecting from screen time to take part in a junk journaling hour. Photos by Madison DeVore ’25
Move. Explore. Grow. Reset.
Autumn Term, a three-week orientation for first-year students, featured several SWELL events. On Sept. 1, over 100 students lined up outside the Triton Room for SWELL: Analog Hour “Junk Journaling,” a part of a screen-free creative series of events.
First-year students eagerly claimed their journals and supplies. They adorned junk journals with turquoise starfish stickers, magazine clippings and a wide selection of decorations. Junk journals, rather than a traditional journal, Brittany Wiberg, student support specialist, explains, can be messier and use various materials to create an eclectic collage.
Wiberg says she saw an opportunity for wellness programming to have a more regular presence on campus, rather than one-off events. Jack Layden ’17, assistant dean for residence life and student engagement, approached her in the spring semester to see if she was interested in rethinking what wellness programming could look like.
Wiberg, who has been a physical education, math and science teacher and worked overseas, has long been drawn to places where she can create something new.
Junk journaling is the creative practice of making or keeping a personalized book using recycled, repurposed and everyday found materials.
An Eckerd student assembles a junk journal.
“We shifted from wellness to well-being,” Wiberg says, “Because it does have a more holistic lens to it. We’re really most interested in overall feelings of well-being as opposed to just individual actions towards health and wellness.”
As the crowd filled up the room for junk journaling, many students moved to tables outside to put their crafts together. First-years Sophia Granados from Englewood, New Jersey, Lillian Call from Maryville, Illinois, Maddie Russell from Alcoa, Tennessee, and Anika Knight from Olympia, Washington, sat together outside, cutting out paper shapes and gluing decorations to their journals.
During the frenzy of Autumn Term and adjusting to college life, with three hours of class daily, they agreed this event was a destresser. The students also noted that this event provided a way to get off of their phones, boost creativity and connect with others.
“This is something good that calms us and keeps us collected,” says Lillian.
Well-being, rather than wellness, characterizes this programming, Wiberg says. The aim is to not simply encourage students to drink more water or get more daily steps, for example, but help them feel connected, rested and have a sense of overall belonging.
More than 100 students participated in the junk journaling hour event on Sept. 1, 2026.
Shelby Simmons ’26, coordinator of campus activities and recreation, focuses on the “move” aspect of SWELL, tied to intramural sports, fitness challenges and fitness classes. As a recent graduate of the College, Simmons has unique insight into students’ wants and needs. And she has an open-door policy. She knows it can be intimidating for students to approach staff, but she hopes students can feel comfortable approaching her as a recent graduate.
“As a student, I tried to voice my opinion as much as I could,” Simmons says. “I’m open to every single idea. I just want everyone to feel seen and heard.”
The goal, Simmons adds, is to give the student body access to well-being programming “before they even need to ask us.”
