Why Join Embody Carolina?

BY GILLIAN FORTIER

​The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill touts over eight hundred different clubs and student organizations. There really isn’t another way to put it: that’s a whole awful lot.

Carolina Swing Dance Club. Association of Women Surgeons. Bacon of the Month Club. Ahmadiyya Muslim Student Association. I once tried to go to a meeting of the Underwater Hockey team, but ended up participating in a Water Polo practice instead. There is a club for everything you’ve ever wanted to try, and for everything you never knew you wanted to try.

So why join Embody Carolina? When your options are so limitless, why choose us?

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Because 1 in 5 college students may struggle with an eating disorder. That’s 1 or 2 people in your suite, 40 people in your lecture, and almost 6,000 students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Eating disorder advocacy and awareness is vital on college campuses.

Because when you’re a part of Embody Carolina, you also get to be a part of and work with Campus Rec, the UNC Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders, Southern Smash, the entire Campus Y, the National Eating Disorders Association – the list goes on. Getting involved with Embody means getting involved with a whole lot more! 

Because Embody Carolina isn’t satisfied. We want to be more and we want to be better. We constantly try to reach out to more students. We hold tough conversations about who we are, and who we want to be – challenging our own ideals and the messages we send out. We talk about subjects – like fatphobia, skinny shaming, intersectionality, dieting – that we may disagree on, but we talk about them nonetheless, and that’s the important part.

Because you can choose to be involved at whatever level you want. It’s totally fine if you simply want to get emails to stay updated on what’s going on, and it’s also totally fine if you suddenly find that you’ve been to every meeting and have Embody Carolina stickers on everything you own and you’re spending all of your free time at the Campus Y. Whatever your commitment is like, we love having you involved!

Because sometimes we like to take field trips to YOPO after meetings.

Because whatever your skills and talents are, Embody can use them. You like taking pictures? We do photo campaigns and take pictures at our events. Writing? You’re reading our blog right now! Our musically inclined have helped to make body-positive playlists, and our artistic members can make banners. Those of us who love science help keep up to date with the latest research, and others help to keep our social media producing content and gaining followers. Whatever you do, you can do it with an Embody twist.

Because the members of Embody Carolina beam positivity. We at Embody recognize that yeah, things can be hard. Really, really hard. Each of us faces our own set of struggles. But the reason we do what we do – the reason we advocate and promote and educate – is because we believe that life is really rad, and everyone should get to live, fully and joyfully. We Embody because recovery is possible. We Embody because we believe everyone deserves to love themselves. We Embody because we are full of hope.
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And in case all of that isn’t reason enough to come join us: sometimes, we have puppies come to meetings. Just wait till you meet Gracie.

Gracie, Official Embody Dog