Student Wellness Grants Are Making a Difference on Campus — In Innovative and Surprising Ways
With antisemitism and encampment protests on the rise on college campuses, students need resources for mental health and wellness perhaps more than ever before. In the months since October 7, Jewish students have reported increased levels of fear and anxiety at school – with our most recent survey results showing 40% have felt the need to hide their Jewish identity from others on campus, and 61% saying there has been antisemitic, threatening or derogatory language toward Jewish people during protests at their school. These students are searching for spaces and programs where they can be themselves without explanation or apology.
That’s where Hillel comes in. This year, Hillel International’s Center for Student and Staff Wellbeing awarded a record 73 student wellness grants to ensure campus Hillels have what they need to implement projects that help students feel connected, seen, supported, and inspired. As we observe Mental Health Awareness Month, here are just a few of the innovative ways campus Hillels have created new initiatives to support Jewish student well-being during this challenging time.
At the University of Rhode Island, Creativity Invites Connection
After October 7, one of the most common concerns Hillel professionals heard at the University of Rhode Island was that more students wanted to explore and understand their Jewish identity and heritage in a way that helped them feel connected to their campus peers.
“We just really wanted an open conversation where we weren’t trying to say that we were trying to convince anyone of anything,” said Michael Schreiber, director of Jewish student life at URI.
Creative and artistic programs are historically a success with URI Hillel students, both with regular program attendees and students who only rarely stop by. This year, Schreiber noticed that students were looking for ways to understand the intersections of their many identities, including their Jewish identity, and to do that in a way that brought meaning to their lives and could even strengthen their connection to Judaism. That’s when he knew a creative program could be key in supporting Jewish students and others on campus.
“I don’t think we really had a goal in mind other than just to bring people together and have a space where people are able to creatively explore their identity and learn from others and their perspectives as well,” he said. “We really wanted to create the atmosphere and the environment of being able to think about your own identity, share it with others, and listen and hear from other people on their perspectives as well.”
That’s exactly what they did. Working with Nancy Katz, a local artist and educator with decades of experience in developing and creating contemporary Jewish art, they created the Identity and Community in Conversation workshop. Students were invited to choose from a sample of different symbols and respond to them in an artistic way. Symbols included a Star of David, a crescent, a cross, a rainbow, and others.
After some time with their individual creative projects, students came back together in small groups to discuss what came up for them.
“It was a fun and creative experience that made me think deeper about my identity and what defines me,” said class of 2026 student Hagar Yosfan, who attended the program.
Along with Hillel, the program was co-sponsored by the URI Chaplains Association, the Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies, the Women’s Center, and the Gender and Sexuality Center.
“I think a lot of students also benefited from being able to hear from other people’s perspectives, and a lot of identities they may not have considered,” said Schreiber. “Students were able to bring their full selves to the conversation.”
For Molly Stogner, class of 2025, the best part of the program was reconnecting to the campus community in ways she hadn’t experienced before.
“To me it meant a group of URI students from all different backgrounds and ways of life coming together, showing, teaching, and exploring each other’s representation of themselves and meeting new friends within the community,” she said.
George Mason University Hillel’s Wellness Lounge is Open to All
Last year, Sydney Spanier, Springboard Fellow at George Mason University, noticed that a lounge space in the shared campus ministry building wasn’t living up to its full potential.
“It was mostly a storage closet,” she said. “And that was not conducive to students spending time there. There was a very old couch and it was very sad.”
Spanier applied for a wellness grant through Hillel, and was able to fully revamp the space, focusing on bringing in items that made the lounge feel welcoming, calming, and quiet.
“It became this oasis where people could study and have a chill space where they could be on campus and know that they had somewhere to go and relax.”
After October 7, there was a distinct change in the way students used the Wellness Lounge.
Instead of coming to study or relax, they were using the space to get away from tensions on campus, as a place to be social, have a snack or a cup of coffee, and get some support from Hillel staff, as well as their peers. With traffic increasing and a new set of needs emerging, Spanier applied for another wellness grant — this time focusing on supplies and program materials that would shift the space to center on bringing some much-needed joy to Jewish students.
“Instead of just having weighted blankets and earplugs and soft lighting, we were able to also get a Nintendo Switch with a bunch of games, and have more snacks and coffee available, and a ton of board games,” Spanier said. “Puzzles, coloring books, all of those things to change that space to not just be like a place where people can study, but also a place where people can just be like authentic selves.”
The shift has been a huge success. With traffic to the lounge increasing by more than 300%, students were able to freely celebrate their Jewish identity, feel accepted and included, and live a joyous Jewish life as a college student.
“Our thinking was that if we infuse this space with so much joy, students won’t feel a sense of anxiety when they walk in here. They’re not going to feel like they need to be ready to have a tense or serious conversation,” Spanier said. “Instead, they can just walk in and do a puzzle.”
In addition, because the lounge space is shared across 20 campus ministry organizations, the Wellness Lounge has become a bridge-building initiative, where students from many faith traditions are able to come together and enjoy simply being young adults, away from the tensions and protests on campus.
Spanier hopes that in the coming year, students of all faiths will continue to be able to use the lounge as a space to build relationships in a fun, supportive, joy-oriented environment.
“It’s opened the doors for a lot of bridge-building,” she said. “I can absolutely see it helping us to further our interfaith work on campus as we continue to build up the space — and come together as an entire campus faith community, not just as Mason Hillel.”
All Aboard the Kindness Cart at the University of Central Florida
At the University of Central Florida, the idea behind the project that became their wellness grant program came from an unexpected source: leftover candy.
When UCF Hillel students noticed extra candy and positive notes left over following their Candy Bar Table and Spread Kindness Table programs, they didn’t want them to go to waste. Packing up the Hillel golf cart, they decided to hand out the remaining candy and notes to students they passed on campus. The students’ delight at the unexpected treats gave the Hillel team an idea: If that one short drive made a difference to those few students, why not make an even bigger impact with a weekly activity? And why not use the opportunity to promote UCF Hillel’s presence in a positive light, as a way to combat the rising antisemitism on campus?
They applied for a wellness grant, and the Kindness Cart was born. Each week, Hillel staff and student leaders hand out small kindness treats as they drive the golf cart around campus: motivational stickers, small snacks, even little rubber ducks with positive messages.
“It’s really a way of sharing our values,” said Alyssa Shears, assistant director of engagement and student life at UCF Hillel. “Particularly the Jewish values of tzedakah and tikkun olam. It’s our way of giving back to the entire UCF community, not just our Jewish students.”
Even before October 7, Shears had noticed students were feeling more isolated and disconnected from one another, something she attributes at least in part to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“They’re just really struggling to feel connected,” she said.
One of the most rewarding parts of the Kindness Cart has been seeing what a difference it makes when students feel seen and recognized as individuals, while also being connected to their broader UCF community.
For Lindsay Rosenzweig, UCF Hillel’s Springboard Fellow and the primary organizer of the Kindness Cart, seeing the students’ reactions to it is proof of concept.
“There was a moment when we approached a student who was actually in tears because she was having such a tough day,” she recalled. “And we offered her a novelty positivity potato trinket, and her whole face just lit up, and she stopped crying. She just looked at us and said, ‘I really needed this.’”
Because of the Kindness Cart, students now see Hillel as a resource on campus for all students, Jewish or not. It’s inspiring UCF students to see the Jewish community as welcoming, giving, and inclusive, despite the tensions on campus since October 7.
“We’re taking this concept of being a light upon the nations and spreading light to UCF students through these acts of kindness,” Rosenzweig wrote in her grant application.
“It’s gotten to the point where just the sight of the golf cart brings people joy,” Shears said. “People see it and make an immediate positive association. Their faces absolutely light up. It’s amazing to see.”