March 7, 2023

Steps to Leaps continues to support student growth

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Steps to Leaps, a collaborative, campuswide effort focused on enhancing and promoting holistic well-being, continues to engage Purdue students, faculty and staff through academic and extracurricular settings.  

Steps to Leaps’ efforts to foster holistic well-being for students focus on the key pillar areas of well-being, leadership, impact, network building and grit/persistence. Steps to Leaps was created by students for students and is aligned with long-term university goals under the Provost Map for Transformative Undergraduate Education. 

Since its launch in fall 2019, Steps to Leaps has been a catalyst for academic, extracurricular and co-curricular growth and education. Steps to Leaps enables students to find and connect to resources that promote growth in the five pillars, provides a guide for faculty and staff to use a common language, aligns resources and outcomes, and furnishes organizations with tools and resources to support organizational well-being and resilience.

There are several ways for students, faculty and staff to interact with the initiative, such as the Steps to Leaps summit scheduled for March 22 from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Beck Agricultural Center. The summit will include guest speakers, a student panel discussion, feature presentations and recognition of the Steps to Leaps award winners. A full schedule of events will be posted here once presentation topics are finalized. Individuals interested in attending the summit can register here. 

The deadline to register for the summit is March 15. Attendees will also receive lunch. Ongoing initiatives and ways to engage with Steps to Leaps can be found below.

As the initiative has grown, students have worked to enhance opportunities for their peers to participate in programs and activities to develop in the Steps to Leaps pillars through a registered student organization, Steps to Leaps Students. Membership activities include leadership development workshops, relaxation and well-being activities, alumni networking events, collaborative campus programs, and more. The organization offers several officer positions for students seeking leadership roles. The success of student organizations like Steps to Leaps, one of more than 900 student organizations at Purdue, contributed to the university being ranked as the fourth-best overall university in the nation for student engagement by the Wall Street Journal.

As part of its ongoing efforts to bolster student growth, Steps to Leaps has pledged to support first-generation students with new programming and a leadership series. Steps to Leaps is also committed to supporting the universitywide Action Council on Student Housing and Well-being.

Students can also develop their well-being academically through the course, “Beyond Mental Health: The Science of Well-Being,” taught by Louis Tay, the William C. Byham Associate Professor in Industrial-Organizational Psychology in the Department of Psychological Sciences. In the course, students learn the history of well-being research, scientific theories of well-being and the scientific processes of its study, and the application of psychological exercises in their lives.

Tay also heads the Steps to Leaps Research Collaborative, composed of Purdue faculty and staff who are actively engaged in research in one or more Steps to Leaps pillars. The collaborative seeks to establish evidence-based approaches to assessing and enhancing the well-being and resilience of students. Faculty, staff and graduate students also distribute well-being tips, shared via the Steps to Leaps website and social media, based on scientific research. 

Ongoing opportunities to connect with Steps to Leaps include Discussions and Dialogues, held virtually throughout the year. Discussions and Dialogues engage subject matter experts on the Steps to Leaps pillars to share resources and discuss opportunities for faculty and staff to support students.

Past Discussions and Dialogues are recorded and archived. View past events and discover upcoming opportunities on the Steps to Leaps event calendar.


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