NEDA empowers students to love their bodies with the love of music
By Grace Bertrand
As “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga sounded from the second floor of Lynch Adler Hall, Rider students were able to join together in music, empowerment and body positivity on March 11 to create one giant playlist full of selected feel-good songs.
The National Eating Disorder Association chapter at Rider hosted a “Catch the Vibes Playlist Event” where attendants collectively made a shared body positive playlist on Spotify as they learned about music that can positively impact mental health.
The NEDA is an American nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness, providing resources and screening tools for those struggling with eating disorders.
Creating opportunities to engage students through the NEDA Campus Warriors program, an outreach initiative across several colleges and universities in the nation, the group has been able to raise awareness about eating disorders.
NEDA president and originator of the chapter at Rider, sophomore psychology major Libby D’Orvilliers, was a volunteer with the organization for about three years before she decided to start a chapter at Rider at the start of the spring semester.
“I heard about the Campus Warriors program during my freshman year of university and that’s when I decided that I wanted to bring it here, so it’s been in the works for a little bit of time now,” said D’Orvilliers.
When it comes to the idea of the body positivity playlist making event, D’Orvilliers revealed that she’s been wanting to incorporate music into one of the club’s events for a while in a fun way that gets everyone involved.
“Music is really empowering when it comes to mental health. It can really help out a lot of people who are struggling or just help you validate your emotions to make you feel good,” said D’Orvilliers.
Throughout the night, students scanned a QR code that took them to the shared Spotify playlist where they could then add a song of their choice that they felt was empowering.
Some highlighted songs of the night were “Self Care” by Mac Miller, “Scars to Your Beautiful” by Alessia Cara and a classic, “She’s So Gone” from the “Lemonade Mouth” soundtrack.
In addition to making a body positive playlist, the chapter also used the event as an opportunity to host elections for its executive board.
Freshman psychology majors Kirsten Mackney and Marissa Smith both attended the event.
“I think that the club is a great representation for campus in just spreading awareness about all kinds of eating disorders, body positivity and just being an open and inviting space for people to come,” said Mackney.
The NEDA encourages anyone who is interested in learning more about spreading awareness about eating disorders and body positivity to come to any future meetings.
“Our club is open to everyone. Eating disorders don’t discriminate,” said D’Orvilliers.
Libby D’Orvilliers is circulation manager for The Rider News and president of NEDA. Madison Lewis is a copy editor for The Rider News and secretary of NEDA. Neither had part in the writing and editing of this story.
