TCU Public Health Nursing is hosting a campus-wide weekend focusing on healthy, personal choices.

The Live Free Weekend will take place Sept. 21-24. This weekend is designed for students, faculty and staff to pledge to abstain from alcohol and drugs for 72 hours.

“Live Free Weekend means being able to take time for myself and reflect on all my personal habits and components of my life,” said senior nursing major and project coordinator, Hannah McDevitt. “I think this is going to be a good weekend to reflect as a campus and all come together to encourage healthy habits and how we can all ‘live free’.”

The weekend will offer daily activities on TCU’s campus for anyone that pledges to enjoy.

“This is a wonderful weekend for the whole campus community to practice healthy habits while getting to know one another through different fun activities that focus on ‘living free’,” said senior nursing major and project coordinator Emily Haskins.

The TCU Public Health Nursing clinical uses a service-learning model where students work with different community agencies across Tarrant County to promote public health. They hope that this Live Free Weekend will give students a time of self-reflection and promote awareness of substance and alcohol abuse.

“Our ultimate goal is that individuals will feel free to live the life that makes them the happiest,” Haskins said. “This is a good opportunity for everyone to self-reflect on their personal habits and priorities in their lives. We hope that individuals will become more self-aware of how to live their best life.”

The Live Free Weekend is a national event. The TCU Public Health Nursing clinical saw it as an opportunity to work with different centers on campus to organize an impactful weekend.

Katie Matson, senior strategic communication major, believes the events will be a big part in drawing in the community.

“I think it’s a good effort to get people to pledge to ‘live free’,” Matson said. “I think the events they are doing are a good incentive and a good distraction. However, I don’t think this weekend is as beneficial for older students as it is for freshmen.”

Senior nursing major and one of the project coordinators Kara Roche believes this weekend will be beneficial to the entire TCU community.

“I am passionate about keeping the people in my life healthy,” Roche said. “By promoting this unique event, I am confident that the TCU community could learn a great deal about the influences of drugs and alcohol in our daily lives.”

To take the pledge for Live Free Weekend 2018 and find out more, click here.