When I sat down with Director of the Women’s Center Christine Stuart to discuss this year’s Women’s Health Expo, organized by Stuart and student interns at the Women’s Center, it seemed like one word was paramount in describing her goals for the event: community. The Expo was held Wednesday, Mar. 25 from 3 to 7 p.m. and was designed for students to stop by and explore a variety of tabling resources. Exemplifying the idea of an increasingly connected campus and local community, students were invited to speak with peers, specialists and administrators about resources on campus and from the greater Poughkeepsie area.
During Stuart’s first year as interim director three years ago, she and the Women’s Center interns noticed a lack of events centered around health services for women and trans-identifying students at Vassar. Other offices under the Student Growth and Engagement umbrella, like the ALANA center, LGBTQ+ Center and the Office of International Programs (OIS), all offered signature programs; the Women’s Center did not. So, the Women’s Health Expo began as a solution to fill that gap. Now in its third year, the Expo has become an opportunity to “pop” the Vassar bubble, as Stuart put it.
“I’m really grateful to say that every year since it’s grown a lot. We decided that we wanted campus and community partners present because obviously we exist in a Vassar bubble sometimes, but we really wanted to expand to the greater Poughkeepsie community,” Stuart explained.
This expansion was spearheaded by the office’s outreach team. Beyond the typical gynecological and breast cancer screening services, which were also present, this included inviting local services for gender affirming care and practitioners from both Eastern and Western styles of medicine.
“This year’s outreach team worked with a lot of different community partners. We had Pellegrino Wellness [Pellegrino Healing Center, located in Hyde Park] here and they did some body scans. We had Dr. Barkely, who does acupressure and acupuncture, and she’s absolutely incredible, and this is her third year coming,” explained Stuart.
“We also had other resources because we think it’s really important to identify that women’s health looks different for different people,” Stuart continued. “So it’s really important for us to have representatives from [places] like Hudson Valley LGBTQ+ Center and Dutchess County Pride because we want all of our students to know that women’s health is for everyone. Especially for our trans-identified students.”
The event also offered raffles, freebies and giveaways: including 200 tote bags filled with free products, which were all accounted for by the end of the event. Students were also welcomed into the Villard Room with pre- and post-workout snacks organized by Vassar Dining Campus Dietician Jenna Bernard, and “passports” which contained additional information about how to follow up with tabling representatives and campus services like Counseling and the Care Coordination, Advocacy, Resources and Education Office (CARE). If attendees collected passport stamps from five of the tables, they earned an additional raffle entry for the chance to win themed baskets of workout equipment and health and beauty products.
Other featured services included intramural sports opportunities from Sports and Recreation Services, medical support and referral information from off-campus providers like Planned Parenthood of Greater New York, Vassar Brothers Medical Center and the Miles of Hope Breast Cancer Foundation, and student representatives from local organizations like Project Period and The Brain and Body Coalition as part of the community-engaged learning (better known as CEL) program.
For Office Specialist at Student Living and Wellness (SLW) Stacy Ripo, who also teaches Life Fitness classes through Vassar College’s Sports and Recreation Services, the event was above all a chance for students to learn to ask more questions about where to get help and see how Vassar’s resources operate collaboratively. For instance, at the CARE Office, Director of Care Coordination Erika Lee and Residential Care Coordinator Jessie George work to assist students navigating health insurance, prescriptions and the referral process when seeking on- or off-campus service providers.
“Wellness is a community effort,” said Ripo.
Ripo also hopes students feel encouraged by the free facilities and fitness opportunities available at our Athletics & Fitness Center (AFC)—represented by the Recreation Department table at the Expo. When it comes to exercising, said Ripo, “I think women are often bombarded with everyone’s idea of what’s not enough.” Though she also explained this pressure to do more can coincide with a lack of education about what is too much—a balance which she hopes life fitness classes like the pilates and strength training classes she teaches can help destigmatize for students.
As for the future of the Health Expo, Stuart told me there is already a time and date set for next year: Wednesday, Mar. 31, 2027 from 4 to 7 p.m.
“We do hope that it continues to grow year after year and continues to come back,” Stuart expressed. “So my intent is to order a few more [tote] bags and invite more community partners. We have been getting a lot of word of mouth in the Poughkeepsie community for this event, so people who come to this event as campus guests are like, wow, this is really cool.”
While maintaining health and fitness can be an isolating, intimidating or—in the case of navigating the American healthcare system—convoluted process, especially for women and trans-identifying students, the Expo demonstrates that this need not always be the case. For students at Vassar, this ongoing and expanding event hopes to leave no student feeling alone in maintaining their mental and physical well-being. As Ripo emphasized: There is a whole community of resources on offer. All you have to do is ask.
“We’re going to pop that Vassar bubble a little bit more intentionally, get more students familiar with what resources are available, but also get more community members to come on campus because that’s something that I think is really valuable for all of your education,” Stuart said. “Because we don’t exist in a silo as much as we sometimes act like it.”