A Health and Wellness club, CHAARG, is new on the University of Oregon’s campus this year. CHAARG, which stands for Changing Health, Attitudes, and Actions to Recreate Girls, is an organization active at more than 100 universities.
Ana Melder, a junior at UO, is the founding ambassador. The mission of CHAARG is to ignite a passion of movement in college women, and aims to “liberate girls from the elliptical.”
“For a lot of my life, especially end of high school and beginning of college, I started to have a toxic relationship with my body and food and exercise,” Melder said. “I learned to develop a positive relationship with my body, my own mental health, food, and exercise. I wanted to take my experience and knowledge and help other women not spiral or go down the path that I went down.”
Melder said that over spring term, she got in contact with the CHAARG organization, and applied to be the founding ambassador to bring CHAARG to UO.
Every week, the group has a different workout. Right now, the workouts are virtual, and they vary from barre and pilates to kickboxing, and more. Melder said that normally, when the workouts no longer have to be virtual, the group will get in contact with different fitness studios around Eugene and hold workouts there.
“We also do other stuff like go on coffee dates, or out to dinner,” Melder said. “It’s a way to get to know more women who are passionate about the same stuff as you.”
Chloe Clarke, a junior who is the Vice President of Media for CHAARG, said that she likes the community CHAARG brings.
“I just love what they stand for, like encouraging women inside and outside of the fitness realm,” Clarke said. “It can be scary to go to the gym alone, and having a group that you can go with is encouraging.”
Clarke said that there is nothing like CHAARG on UO’s campus, and she hopes in the future it will continue to grow. This year, the club’s goal was 60 members, and they have already reached that goal.
Talia Surbrook, a junior and the event coordinator for CHAARG, said that she wanted to get involved in order to help girls have a healthy relationship with fitness and food. Surbrook said that when she got to UO, she found herself comparing herself to a lot of new girls, and was also dealing with other struggles at the time.
“I turned to eating and fitness excessively cause that was the only thing I felt like I could control,” Surbrook said. “Since then I was able to come out of it, but I had to go to a super deep place first.”
Surbrook said that she hopes this will create a more supportive and fun community for health and wellness at UO.
CHAARG is continuing to grow by reaching out on social media, sending out emails and putting up flyers. Melder, Clarke and Surbrook are excited to be a part of this organization, and said they are looking forward to seeing how it will grow on UO’s campus.
“Movement should not be something we should do, it’s something that we want to do,” Melder said. “It’s focused on our mental health, too. Finding ways to help and deal with your mental health, and a lot of times that is through movement.”
