Wellness at WPI

2026 Student Recognition Awards The Student Activities Office is proud to recognize the exceptional students, leaders, advisors, and organizations who make a lasting impact on the WPI community. Congratulations to all recipients of the 2026 Student Recognition Awards—your dedication, leadership, and contributions do not go unnoticed. Student Employee of the Year Evan Carmody ’26 CORE Awards Campus Organization Recognition of Excellence Advisor of the Year Richard Lopez, Mental Health Committee Individual CORE Award Amanda Smith ’26 (GS) Educational Program of Excellence SWE Women’s Networking Night Society of Women Engineers Social Program of Excellence Big Show  The Social Committee Organization of the Year The Outing Club Diversity Program of the Year Lunar New Year Society of Asian Scientists & Engineers  Peer Learning Assistant of the Year Vanya Malik ’27 Honorable Mention: Samuel Gervasi ’26 Outstanding Student Awards Gertrude R. Rugg Award – Nithya Sudharsha ’29 Ellen Knott Award – Abby Belding ’28 Bonnie‑Blanche Schoonover Award – Muskan Bansal ’27 Mariette E. Anderson Award – Marissa Matsushige ’27 CARE Award Courageous • Aware • Responsible • Exceptional Zarrin Rahman ’26 (GS) Greek Recognition Awards Fraternity Man of the Year Conner Nguyen ’26, Tau Kappa Epsilon Sorority Woman of the Year Gianna Sangermano ’26, Alpha Phi Fraternity of the Year Sigma Pi Sorority of the Year Chi Omega Coghlin Award Recipients Lily Dukette ’26 Maxwell Hobbs ’26 Crimson and Gray Award Recipients Mikayla Almeida ’26 • Victoria Corcoran ’26 • Lily Dukette ’26 • Leah Johnson ’26 • Destiny Lu ’26 • Ashton Lyon ’26 • Gianpaolo Maneri ’26 • Madalyn Nguyen ’26 • Nathaniel Powers ’26 • Amanda Smith ’26 (GS) • Makenna Stone ’26 • Viraj Vikram Samant ’26 (GS) • Kerry Xiao ’26 • Mena Youssif ’26 Thank you to all students, organizations, advisors, and campus partners who continue to inspire excellence and community engagement at WPI.  

Looking for an on-campus job for next year where you can support your fellow students and promote a culture of well-being at WPI? Apply to join the Center for Well-Being team as a Peer Well-Being Ambassador! We’re hiring 1 graduate student for fall AY26-27. Applications are open 4/8 - 4/15. We are not accepting applications via email nor in-person – please apply via WPI’s Job X site. Send any questions to cwb@wpi.edu.

For those who enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables, WPI Dining Services and the Office of Sustainability are coordinating a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program from Stillman’s Farm again this year. We would like to invite you to participate! Please check out their link and email Shavaun at scloran@wpi.edu with any questions or interest.

Well-being is not one-size fits all and we want to know what you think about Wellness Days and how you spend your time on these days! Your input will help us improve as we plan future Wellness Days.  We want your feedback weather you participate in Wellness Day activities or not! As a thank you, you’ll have a chance to win a Movie Night Gift Basket. Feedback Survey

On the Feb. 13, 2026 Wellness Day, the WPI community welcomed student filmmaker and digital wellness advocate Ben Forman to campus for an exclusive screening of his documentary, Disconnected: Life in a Digital Reality. The event was organized by the Student Mental Health Committee, Assistant Professor Richard Lopez from the Department of Social Science and Policy Studies, and Paula Fitzpatrick and Gina Heinsohn from the Center for Wellbeing.  Image WPI President Grace Wang opened the event with remarks about the value of interpersonal connection and the importance of digital wellness, especially within the WPI community. Next, Ben Forman, a current undergraduate student at the University of Colorado Boulder, introduced the film as an exploration of how growing up in a smartphone- and social media-driven world shapes mental health, relationships, and identity. The documentary explores these issues through conversations with college students, mental health professionals, and Forman himself. As part of the film, Forman conducts a personal experiment: after abstaining from social media for five years, he spends multiple hours a day on social media apps for one month to examine their impact. During a Q&A that followed the screening, students, faculty, and staff engaged with Forman about his experiences creating the film, the various impacts of his personal social media experiment, and the increasing role of artificial intelligence in discussions around social media and youth mental health.