#OurTufts Features Snaggs Gendron, Student Wellness Advisor for the Boston Health Sciences Campus

”My position at Tufts as a wellness advisor allows me to listen to students and get them connected with the right services. I like the term ‘advising’ because it lowers the barriers; students may be hesitant to talk to a “counselor.” I work with all the programs on the Boston campus. Throughout the year, I may have 400-plus appointments, but there are about 3,000 other students here. How are we supporting them? I develop wellness activities to help build community and lower stress: wellness gatherings, pet therapy, pop-up tea times, discussions on topics students may be wrestling with. Once you’re a student, everything has an impact on academics: stress at home, family, finances. What I have noticed is more students are accessing ways to mitigate stress. They are no longer wearing stress as a badge of honor or bragging about how little sleep they’ve gotten. I haven’t gone to medical or dental school, but I know what it’s like to feel like you’re the only person going through something. Coming from the small island of Tobago, I had to learn to navigate higher education in America, and that’s something that’s always stuck with me. I didn’t get to where I am without a whole lot of people helping and advising me. It really took a village to get Snaggs to where I’m at.” –Snaggs Gendron, Student Wellness Advisor, Boston Health Sciences Campus

#OurTufts is a series of personal stories shared by members of the Tufts community. 
Photo by Anna Miller / Tufts University