Indiana Gamma Karena Bakas is passionate about providing support on difficult topics affecting college students. She is proud to serve as her chapter’s Health and Wellness Chair. She is also active in the organization Greek Educators, Advocates and Resources (G.E.A.R.), a peer education program made up of sorority and fraternity members promoting wellbeing in their chapters. And she is an intern for the Butler University (BU) Health Center.

Through G.E.A.R., Karena has been trained to help sift through issues like active bystanders, anxiety, depression and stress management. As a BU Health Center intern, Karena served as the student voice on the search committee to fill a new position on campus. Her desire to provide a healthy college experience for her peers at BU has encouraged Karena to continue to find ways to make an impact.

Recently, Karena presented an Escalation Workshop through the One Love Foundation to her sisters at Pi Phi. The organization created the workshop to assist in identifying the warning signs of unhealthy relationships and domestic abuse. The goal is educate young people about this topic and assist in starting the conversation. The organization also hopes the workshop will give people the courage to intervene when they see this situation starting.

Karena loved that the workshop was peer-run and not lecture style. After watching the film as part of the Escalation Workshop, Indiana Gamma Chapter members sat in a circle and talked about different aspects of the film. The program provides teaching points and prompts if needed, but Karena believes the peer-to-peer environment allowed for open, genuine conversation to occur between the women.

With all the experience she has gained, Karena is known as someone to go to within the Indiana Gamma Chapter. Chapter members utilize Karena because she is trained on many health and wellness topics, but can also assist in finding campus or community resources to support them.