As part of Body Appreciation Week at The University of Alabama, University Programs and the Counseling Center, among other sponsors, will host “Open Your Eyes” Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m. in Tutwiler Hall’s community living room.

Kathryn Shewmake, a sophomore majoring in restaurant and hospitality management, is part of the group organizing “Open Your Eyes” as a class project. She said the theme of the event is “Shut Society’s Eyes and Open Your Eyes to True Beauty.”

“For RHM 385, we had to create group projects, and our group got National Eating Disorder Awareness Week,” Shewmake said. “We decided we would throw an event to promote positive body image.”

(See also “Body Appreciation Week brings attention to eating disorders“)

“Open Your Eyes” will feature a panel speaking about body image issues. The panel will include Susan Christian, staff therapist at the Counseling Center; Sheena Quizon Gregg, assistant director of the health promotion and wellness department in the College of Community Health Sciences; Miranda Ward, Miss UA; and Amanda Taylor of the Eating Disorders Anonymous Group.

“The panel is going to discuss different things that deal with their own personal stories,” Shewmake said. “Miranda will talk about her story and how eating disorders are very under the radar and how you can’t always pick them out. Sheena is talking about the dietary side and how to eat healthy but not starve yourself.”

The event will also include free food catered by Zoe’s Kitchen, free T-shirts, a photo booth, screenings of short films, a raffle for scholarships and a “True Beauty” banner that all attendees can sign, including a short message of what they find beautiful about themselves. Students can also receive Panhellenic points for attending.

(See also “Eating disorders more prevalent in springtime“)

Shewmake also said her group worked especially hard to come up with a good way to talk about eating disorders. She said sometimes talking about the darker side of the topic of body image tends to scare people away.

“Eating disorders always come off with a negative connotation, and so we wanted to really find the positive side of it,” Shewmake said. “We want people to come away with a more positive view of their own body. We don’t want to go into the dark side of eating disorders because we feel like that would push people away.”

Laurel Woodfin, a junior majoring in hospitality management, is also an organizer from the RHM 385 class. She emphasized that the goal is to open the floor to an inviting discussion about body image.

“We want it to be a fun, positive, welcoming atmosphere where students feel comfortable to interact with our panel of qualified speakers,” Woodfin said.

(See also “On-campus support, help available for those struggling with eating disorders“)