Baylee Martin | staff writer
Oct. 14, 2021
Duquesne CHAARG is building a better you and a brighter tomorrow by “changing health attitudes and actions to help recreate girls.”
According to Claire Shipley, an ambassador for Duquesne CHAARG. Women across Duquesne’s campus are one of over 90 chapters on college campuses across the country showing women that fitness, mental health, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle beyond picking up a weight at the gym.
“It’s a really great way to help girls, you know, get out of their comfort zone to learn a little bit more about the fitness world,” Claire said.
Duquesne CHAARG holds social events, guest speakers and even networking opportunities to explicitly show just how intertwined mental and physical health truly are. Shipley believes this organization can help women across campus find their light.
“I joined recently,” Shipley said, “because before CHAARG was at Duquesne, I had a very low point in my life and my best friend encouraged me to join. I thank her, like every day for having me join and ever since then I gained a support system that I didn’t really know that I needed at that time.”
CHAARG has survived Covid-19 as a new organization on campus and is thriving this semester by becoming active in face-to-face, group workouts as opposed to the virtual sessions they participated in last year.
Their most recent workout was a hot yoga session, a style of yoga performed in humid conditions, with Aither Yoga, a yoga studio in Downtown Pittsburgh. According to the Aither Yoga online site, their motto is “building for a better you and a brighter tomorrow,” which encompasses what CHAARG stands for.
The meaning behind this motto is what drives many of the members to join CHAARG in the first place. Morgan Voithofer, a fifth-year pharmacy major at Duquesne, said on CHAARG’s Instagram page that she joined CHAARG to “become the best version of herself,” and to find what workouts make her most comfortable with girls she shares a bond with.
Shipley has felt this same comfort in the group of girls she has found in CHAARG that she had not had before when going to the gym.
“For women, it’s so hard for us to step into the gym and feel comfortable with doing other things other than stepping on the treadmill or stepping on the bike,” Shiply said. “And I know personally for me I’ve been super intimidated by going to the gym and CHAARG has helped me learn about other things that the gym, can offer and help me and feel confident in doing those things and learning the basics of doing it, so I kind of look like I know what I’m doing.”
Another member of CHAARG, Peri Dimitriou, posted to the Duquesne CHAARG Instagram that she joined CHAARG to “meet other girls at Duquesne who are just as passionate about fitness and healthy living” as she is. She also said that she loves the support system she gained from joining.
CHAARG is holding a “tie-dye t-shirt social” on Nov. 2 to relax and from the stressful midterm period. Anyone interested in becoming a member of CHAARG can email duquesnechaarg@gmail.com and can follow the Duquesne CHAARG Instagram page, @duquesne_inchaarg.
Shipley believes that everyone should have a healthy and balanced lifestyle, which is what CHAARG gave her.
“I think that, you know, working out and maintaining a healthy lifestyle is really important for mental health, and I think once you start getting comfortable with working out and with having a good relationship with your body, it is great for setting for up positive mental health,” Shipley said.
