The AH/BT quad was flooded with students, staff and faculty on April 14 during the sixth annual Health and Wellness Expo presented by the San Diego City College Mental Health Counseling Center and Step Up to Live Well.

“We do this every year; basically we are trying to promote health and wellness in all forms: mental, physical, emotional and we had several different booths like an education booth because part of your health and wellness especially as a student is having some type of education plan and goals,” said Alicia Taylor, one of the mental health peer educators.

During the expo, attendees received a “Passport 2 Wellness” booklet, which featured eight different stations to attend. Once attendees received a stamp from all eight, they were entered in a raffle to win either a Kindle Fire HD tablet or a $100 gift card to the San Diego City College Bookstore.

“I came out here today because it’s good to know — since I am new here (on campus), I wanted to learn more on what I can do to be healthy and keep a good positive mind,” student Francy Ndunda said.

“I think this was a pretty good (turnout). The point of the whole things is to have people come and learn something new; for example the a student earlier didn’t know a lot of the answers to the questions as we were playing a trivia game but at least he was able to come in and learn about health and all the ways to take care of your body,” said Daniel Lopez, a member of the Family Health Center at City College.

At the first station, attendees learned about meditation and the psychological, physical and spiritual benefits of performing five minutes of meditation. In the second station, attendees discovered how creating expressive art enhances problem-solving skills, boosts self-esteem, reduces stress and improves the cognitive abilities.

The following three stations offered attendees to learn about biofeedback, mood and community inclusiveness.

At the sixth station, people who stopped were able to find out about the signs of suicide and the ways to help. The station was also in part of Yellow Ribbon, a suicide prevention program that offered “ask for help cards” that included ways on how to help someone you know that may be considering suicide.

“We target 10- to 24-year-olds — for college age students, suicide the No. 2 case of death so it is really important that we get that message out that suicide is preventable and making sure that everybody has the resources to prevent it,” said Kelly Cavanaugh, who is an intern for the mental health counseling center and also works for Yellow Ribbon.

Following the sixth station, people at City were able to learn more about exercising and ways that physical health plays a big role on mental wellness. At the station, attendees could be seen doing push-ups, sit-ups and jump roping.

At the station, Taylor mentioned that “it is important for people to know that exercise reduces stress and improves and prevents symptoms of depressions and anxiety.”

“The Passport 2 Wellness” booklet had attendees finish at the “Student Success Jeopardy” where they were able to learn about the many educational resources on campus.

Also during the expo, students went on a 2K walk around campus led by Professor of Exercise and Science and men’s cross-country Head Coach Paul Greer.

The expo featured many organizations, programs and businesses including the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, PSI Beta, San Diego City College nursing program, Enactus and also the Southwestern College nursing program.