Bailey Woinarowicz ’24, a political science major with minors in bioethics and health and society, spent her time at Loyola Marymount University championing wellness initiatives for the student body. From initiating new programs such as a virtual reality initiative to help students combat their stress or working with Student Health Services to provide on-campus flu shots to students outside of the health center. As a former student-athlete and member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee with a desire to serve the campus community in student government or serving alongside others through the Ignatians Service Organization, Woinarowicz has been one of the staunchest student advocates for the overall well-being of her peers.
Woinarowicz has served on ASLMU, LMU’s undergraduate student government, since she started at LMU in 2020 where she began as the NCAA and Varsity Athletics Senator because she also was a student-athlete competing in women’s swimming. From there, she was elected to be the speaker of the Senate during her sophomore year and in March 2022 she was elected the vice president for student wellness. “Wellness is important to me because I had a close family member who struggled with mental health,” said Woinarowicz.
“During my first year at LMU, I got involved in student government as the NCAA and varsity athletics senator, then I became the speaker of the Senate last year, and all of the work I was writing resolutions on during that time pertained to student wellness,” said Woinarowicz. “One of my main objectives was to work around trying to increase awareness about mental health and wellness resources available to students on campus. At the cornerstone of all the resolutions I worked on during my first two years at LMU, wellness was at the core of it.”
After two surgeries and having to navigate LMU’s wellness resources for herself, Woinarowicz was empowered to use those experiences and her passion for promoting wellness on campus as the motivation to run for VP of student wellness office two years in a row. “Going into the elections during my sophomore year, I had seen three different ASLMU presidents at that point and they all accomplished great things, but none of their accomplishments looked like what I wanted for myself,” said Woinarowicz. “I wanted to create tangible ways to help students access wellness resources on-campus. And stepping into the role for a second year, allowed me to build on the work I was able to accomplish in year one and find ways to create new initiatives in year two.”
During the summer of 2022, Woinarowicz interned for Children’s Hospital of Orange County in the Medical Intelligence, Information, Investigation, and Innovation Institute, where she shadowed physicians and learned about medical innovations emerging in health care. It was during an XR Play Day event, an expo-like experience, she explored different types of augmented and virtual reality experiences. It was this experience that fueled her passion for wanting to bring VR to campus as a tool to support students taking a break from their rigorous academic schedule to practice some mindfulness.
After a meeting with several Student Affairs leaders and staff to present the VR wellness initiative, she recounted with a staff member how unique a moment it was to be bringing her idea in front of so many key people at LMU. “It’s so important for students to know how much administrators really care about LMU students and want to make wellness better on campus for the student body,” said Woinarowicz. And in April 2023, Woinarowicz was able to work with Michelle Kiser, assistant director of fitness and wellness, to get a VR headset inside FitWell and make the VR wellness initiative a reality for students, by appointment, and 40-50 students utilized the VR program in the past year. Ninety-eight percent of the students reported their stress decreased by using the VR headset to combat their stress.
In fall 2023, Woinarowicz worked with Dr. Tejani, LMU’s medical director from Student Health Services, to come up with a way to provide more students with the flu vaccine by creating an event called Boo to the Flu. Student Health Services was able to use a pop-up tent and provide free flu vaccinations for 200-300 students inside the health center, and two events outside of the health center, a special Wellness Wednesday focused on health and well-being, and an event in the evening in the Palm Quad to bring the initiative closer to areas on campus where students reside.
“As a student my favorite resource at LMU is definitely Community of Care,” said Woinarowicz. “I feel like I got really lucky with having Adrienne Walker as a case manager because she was a student-athlete at Ohio State. I was really able to talk with her about my experiences on the swim team and how big injuries as an athlete can be in terms of setbacks, but also how Community of Care can really be such an advocate for you if you’re going through interpersonal things too. They really are the people that can step up and advocate for students who are going through a difficult time, whether it’s talking to your professors or Student Housing. Many students who are going through something go straight to Student Psychological Services for support, but it’s all about finding a wellness resource that’s right for you as a student, maybe that’s SPS or maybe that’s Community of Care.”
Before her senior year at LMU, Woinarowicz was a student-athlete on the women’s swim team. She describes her favorite moment as when she achieved two personal best times at last year’s Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive Conference. “I never thought I would swim that fast again, especially after having two hip surgeries,” said Woinarowicz. “And I wasn’t swimming the greatest during my junior year up until the end of the season, when the training I was doing really started paying off. What was hard about it was at first, I didn’t get the recognition I wanted to with it, but I realized I didn’t need it because I had proven to myself what I had learned to do and that was the reason I wanted to swim.”
Woinarowicz said it took time for her to find a balance between academics and involvement at LMU. “I think I figured it out during my spring semester of my sophomore year and it really took honing down what I cared about and realizing I can’t do everything and I can’t say yes to everything,” said Woinarowicz. “This last year I really excelled and performed well academically, and I think it’s because I really figured out the priorities I had this year especially. Part of that was about allowing myself to be a senior and do things I enjoy which really helped me not get burned out.”
Woinarowicz describes her LMU student experience around the idea of resilience. “I always try to look at the positive, but I had many hard times as a student,” said Woinarowicz. “The one thing about my time at LMU is I can see the growth I have had not just academically but as a person. Not only did I have to overcome adversity, but LMU really gave me the tools and the takeaways from those challenges and showed me how amazing it is to overcome those things and persevere through hard times. When I had my surgeries, I still kept up with my involvement in ASLMU, SAAC, and my service organization. And it was those things that kept me going.” After graduating from LMU, Woinarowicz will be working at Children’s Hospital of Orange County as a medical scribe, a full circle moment for her as it’s the place she did her internship at during her time at LMU.
Woinarowicz has so much gratitude for LMU staff who helped her in her student journey along the way. “Mary Alt, who now works in SPS, but previously worked in Athletics, she has been instrumental in terms of the work I did in SAAC and being a great support to me as a student-athlete,” said Woinarowicz.. “She always, always saw me as a person first before a student and an athlete, so I’m immensely grateful for the conversations we got to have.
“Julia Wade, Ed.D., who serves as a moderator for the Ignatians Service Organization, she really helped me last semester because she can see everything and challenge you to think about all possible outcomes and I’m really grateful because she really challenged me as a student leader.
“Nathan Faust, an undergraduate admissions counselor, who has helped me balance having fun with my job as a tour guide but also balanced with how important the role of a tour guide is in being some of the first people to introduce students and their families to LMU. There’re so many staff I’ve been able to work with through my work in ASLMU, and specifically my wellness role, Michelle Kiser from FitWell, Dr. Tejani from Student Health Services, Dean of Students Terri Mangione, Briana Maturi and Anthony Rivero from Student Transitions and Success, Angela O’Malley, Becca Okida, and Francesca Piumetti from the Office of Student Conduct and Community Responsibility.
“These are all of the people I met with for my VP of student wellness role, and they are so awesome because it’s very evident how much they care about the student body. Meeting the people behind the resources has been such an amazing thing because I can really advocate not only for the resource but for the staff behind them. I have been able to really learn how they work and it’s not as simple sometimes as people think it is, it’s been personally one of my favorite experiences at LMU has been working with these folks and hearing how not only the resources work but also that they want to make them better. As a student-leader who also sees things that could improve, this experience has been really rewarding and recharging to have them as a support system. From an advising standpoint in ASLMU, the entire Student Leadership and Development team, including Jenn Leal, Katie Chalmers, Andrea Niemi, Jeanette Ramirez, Frank Albergo, and Sabrina Merritt have been an at the cornerstone of my ASLMU experience from advising to supporting all of the initiatives.”
