‘Love EVERY Body Week’ is sponsored by the Viterbo Recreation and Leadership Department. It begins Feb. 19 and lasts until Feb. 23. The week is dedicated to celebrating the differences that make each person unique, while also promoting healthy body image and lifestyle. During each day of Love EVERY Body Week, Recreation and Leadership hosts various events for students to attend.  

All throughout the week, students are encouraged to take part in promoting body positivity by posting on social media. The Recreation and Leadership Department says that students should tag Viterbo in their posts and use the hashtag “#LOVEEVERYBODY” to participate. It outlines the goal behind this initiative is to, “encourage everyone to love themselves and respect others.”  

Encouraging people to respect others and love themselves can happen on social media, in fact, many positivity movements begin there, although a healthy lifestyle occurs outside of the digital realm. The Recreation and Leadership Department promotes Viterbo students and employees to develop healthy hydration habits through their Hydration Challenge, which also extends the length of the week. Participants are instructed to drink eleven cups of water each day and submit an entry for every day that goal is fulfilled. At the end of Love EVERY Body week, two winners will be selected, one from the pool of students and one from the pool of employees. The winners will receive a prize for their participation.  

Another event which runs for the entire week is the “Cultural and Adaptive Clothing Showcase.” The showcase is meant to display attire from different cultures around the world. Viterbo’s Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, otherwise known as DEI, has collaborated with the Global Connections Club to create this showcase. DEI and the Global Connections Club extended an invitation for anyone to lend any pieces of clothing that are a part of different global cultures. Any items that were lent to the display were returned to the original owners after Love EVERY Body week ended. The showcase was on display in several common areas on campus throughout the week, starting the week in the Nursing Center and ending in the Hawk’s Nest. Short descriptors of each item’s cultural significance were included to help viewers learn about different cultures.  

While several events run the course of the week, each day had special events promoting healthy lifestyle. Love EVERY Body week started with aromatherapy in the Hawk’s Next on Monday with Wellness Coach Carmen and closed on Friday with the annual Night on the Slopes at Mount La Crosse.