“It’s a fowl, it’s a airplane, it’s — ?” Most probably, upon listening to this catchphrase, you in all probability considered Superman. Not of Clark Kent, the mild-mannered, spectacled journalist, however as an alternative his caped alter ego, Superman. Similar goes if somebody talked about Gotham Metropolis to you; invoking the title of the imaginary metropolis probably produced a psychological picture not of billionaire Bruce Wayne, however relatively the shadowy determine of Batman.
For Max Beers ’24, his better-known alias is a bit much less superhero-esque however nonetheless simply as straight to the purpose — Enjoyable Max.
Like Superman and Batman, Enjoyable Max makes use of his powers to enact optimistic change inside his neighborhood — however not by taking dangerous guys off the streets. As an alternative, Enjoyable Max serves as a scholar spokesperson for the Faculty of William and Mary’s Wellness Middle, showcasing the methods college students domesticate positivity on campus. Below this full of life persona, Beers goals to begin a bigger discourse about wellness from a public-facing, scholar perspective and inspire college students to combine wellness into their on a regular basis lives.
“Typically, something we’re doing is simply attempting to get individuals to interact with how they’ll maintain themselves, how they’ll simply have extra enjoyable of their day,” Beers stated. “I don’t have all of the solutions to how any individual ought to be effectively, however I do know that having enjoyable actually doesn’t harm.”
One other essential aim of Enjoyable Max is to imbue college students with a way of autonomy over their very own wellbeing.
“We as college students have to vary the stress tradition ourselves. The individuals taking part in a tradition are the one individuals that may change it,” Beers stated. “And so the concept behind Enjoyable Max is to attempt to give the Wellness Middle a scholar face that individuals can have a look at and say, ‘Okay, so that is one thing that’s ours, that is one thing that we are able to really feel a little bit of possession over.’”
Enjoyable Max represents the end result of Beers’ lifelong mission to interact with subjects associated to wellness. Raised by a mom who earned her Grasp’s diploma in Utilized Optimistic Psychology from the College of Pennsylvania, Beers has lengthy been primed with a eager curiosity, a deep look after wellness and what it embodies.
It ought to, then, come as no shock that Beers turned a Wellness Ambassador with the Middle after forming a detailed connection to Affiliate Vice President for Well being & Wellness and Director of Middle for Mindfulness and Genuine Excellence, Kelly Crace. By a miraculous accident, Beers managed to snag a spot in Crace’s extremely coveted Flourishing course as a freshman, and it was after many rounds of after-class conversations that Crace finally advisable the becoming place of Wellness Ambassador to Beers.
“I simply saved going to speak to Crace after class and stated, ‘That is actually attention-grabbing, and I wish to do extra, I wish to do extra,’” Beers stated.
Nonetheless, it wasn’t till April 2022, halfway by Beers’ sophomore 12 months, that he would take his place as a Wellness Ambassador to the subsequent degree and step into the function of Enjoyable Max. In retelling the origin story of Enjoyable Max, Beers described the fateful day when President Katherine Rowe and Vice President for Pupil Affairs Ginger Ambler got here to the Wellness Middle to debate the state of wellness on campus with Wellness Ambassadors.
Throughout what would grow to be an hour-long dialog, Beers was struck by the utter lack of positivity in a dialogue claimed to be about wellness.
“It sort of received to the 30 minute mark the place I used to be simply sitting there considering like, ‘No person has stated something optimistic or about what goes proper on this campus, and we’ve been speaking about psychological well being for half-hour now,’” Beers stated. “Each single factor that’s been stated has been about how individuals are struggling … And so I sort of simply began happening this tirade of, ‘Why are we not speaking about what’s going effectively?’”
Max’s self-proclaimed ‘tirade’ finally reworked right into a dialogue amongst him and the opposite Wellness Ambassadors, wherein Claire Aminuddin ’24 instructed that Max grow to be the coed spokesperson for the Middle. Then, as Beers remarked beforehand, the remainder turned historical past.
The Wellness Ambassadors then set to work constructing Enjoyable Max across the idea of social prescription, which goals to assemble a extra holistic view of wellness past the physiological realm.
“One of many key frameworks for Enjoyable Max is this concept of one thing referred to as social prescription,” Beers stated. “It’s the concept that treatment and chemical imbalances are solely half of what makes wellness — you additionally need to have a way of neighborhood and belonging. So loads of the initiatives we undertake try to peel again just a little little bit of an onion and say, ‘Listed here are the issues that individuals do at William and Mary which can be enjoyable and that they really feel a way of belonging to.’”
The Enjoyable Max group additionally launched The Fun Glossary, a weekly Instagram sequence that educates college students about psychological phrases that may assist them of their wellness journeys. By means of shiny infographics and easy-to-understand language, The Enjoyable Glossary makes advanced psychological phrases accessible to the coed physique and teaches college students the right way to incorporate these phrases into their on a regular basis lives.
Beers famous that most of the phrases highlighted on their social media are ones that personally resonated with him when he realized them by taking varied psychology lessons or speaking along with his mom.
“[The Fun Glossary is] simply issues that I, through the years, have been like, ‘Okay, that is useful, it helps me lots. I’d like for different individuals to know this,’” Beers stated.
Now, The Enjoyable Glossary is primarily spearheaded by Kasey Pataki ’24 and Rebekah Cohodas ’23, different Wellness Ambassadors that Beers works carefully with. Beers additionally credited Anne-Ryan Gareis ’25, Audrey Murcko ’25, and Integrative Wellness Supervisor Lindsay Heck for the integral roles they function members of the Enjoyable Max group.
Together with Instagram, TikTok serves as an important avenue for the dissemination of Enjoyable Max’s messaging. Starting with Beers’ iconic line, “Hey, I’m with So-And-So, and that is what they do for enjoyable,” Beers typically movies these mini scholar showcases on his TikTok wherein he asks one other scholar what they do for enjoyable on campus to keep up a optimistic wellbeing and infrequently engages within the activity they title with them.
Whereas the Enjoyable Max TikTok started as a lighthearted enterprise for Beers to work together extra with the coed physique, it yielded the Enjoyable Max group a fabric profit that they had by no means anticipated: a sponsorship with Foolish Bandz. After Foolish Bandz took discover of a TikTok that Beers made along with his pal Bryce Early ’22, who shared that making a gift of free Foolish Bandz was how she appreciated having enjoyable, Foolish Bandz reposted the TikTok on all of its socials and web site and despatched Beers a whole lot of Foolish Bandz in help of the Enjoyable Max trigger after the 2 received in touch with each other.
Trying to brighten fellow college students’ days with a free burst of nostalgia, the Enjoyable Max group then arrange store on campus and re-gifted the Foolish Bandz to passersby throughout finals week.
“The large factor we did was get 600 Foolish Bandz and gave individuals free Foolish Bandz beneath the pretense that every one they needed to do was simply inform us, how are you taking good care of your self throughout finals?” Beers stated.
Now having a longtime presence on social media, the Enjoyable Max group’s subsequent aim is increasing their outreach past the digital sphere.
“Loads of the work that we’re doing now’s attempting to determine how we are able to diversify and attempt to attain those who aren’t seeing every little thing we put up,” Beers stated. “And a part of that’s we’re on the William and Mary web site now, which is superior. I feel that that’s one thing that I by no means thought would occur in my time at William and Mary — having my face on a web site. However then there’s simply attempting to place up literal, bodily fliers and simply attempting to get the knowledge out in as many strategies as doable so that individuals may have as some ways as doable to see the message and attempt to have interaction with it.”
Together with discovering new methods to attach with the coed physique, the Enjoyable Max group goals to proceed with The Enjoyable Glossary and scholar showcases whereas launching a number of new initiatives.
“We’re going to begin a brand new sequence referred to as ‘Enjoyable Max Uncovers’ — or one thing like that — the place I’m going and attempt to present how the sources on campus can be utilized on your personal wellbeing,” Beers stated. “So we’ve already received a kind of filmed the place I went to Swem Particular Collections and simply poked round and noticed all of the cool stuff that’s there simply by asking like, ‘Hey, can I’m going and poke round?’”
The Enjoyable Max group’s future ambitions proceed with plans to begin a sequence referred to as Enjoyable Max Interviews wherein Beers sparks a dialogue about wellness with notable employees and college students on campus.
“Enjoyable Max Interviews … [are] the place I’m simply attempting to sit down down with individuals which can be bigwigs at William and Mary and say, ‘How do you suppose wellness elements into what you do on a regular basis?’” Beers stated.
This interview sequence ties into one of many two gadgets on Beers’ private Faculty bucket checklist to finish earlier than commencement: interviewing President Rowe in, let’s simply say, a way that captures the spirit of Enjoyable Max.
“I wish to sit down and interview Kathy Rowe, and I wish to do it in probably the most ridiculous method I presumably can,” Beers stated. “I’d put on a fancy dress, like, a shark costume.”
And for the second must-do on Beers’ bucket checklist?
“I wish to manage the most important sport of Duck Duck Goose ever, and I wish to do it within the Sunken Gardens,” Beers stated.
Whereas these targets — and by extension, Enjoyable Max himself — could appear laughable and might be simply chalked as much as just a few extra of Enjoyable Max’s goofy shenanigans, probing past the surface-level silliness of Enjoyable Max reveals critical mental and psychological underpinnings that render it a well-thought-out and useful enterprise for enhancing college students’ wellness.
On the finish of the day, Enjoyable Max’s outspoken dedication to authenticity and welcoming spirit encourages college students to study to not take themselves so severely and suppose extra critically about the right way to create pleasure inside their very own lives. For Beers, the neighborhood that has grown alongside Enjoyable Max exemplifies the influence he needs to depart behind along with his cherished ardour undertaking.
“If nothing else, 100 or so individuals felt like they have been in on a joke, which is sort of poetic in a method, as a result of that’s actually all we’re attempting to get at — is that individuals really feel the sense of neighborhood and belonging right here, and having an enormous joke like that will get the job executed,” Beers stated.
