The compact wellness pod offers four- to six-minute guided meditations and breathing exercises designed to help users reset between classes or commitments.
As students across campus juggle the demands of capstone presentations and final exams, learning how to handle stress becomes imperative for success at the end of the academic year. Thanks to the support of one military-connected alumnus, student veterans and visitors at the University’s National Veterans Resource Center (NVRC) have a new and innovative way to focus on their mental health.
When Nick Armstrong G’08, G’14 (Ph.D.) arrived at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, he came as a recently separated U.S. Army officer, having previously graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and went on to earn an M.P.A. and Ph.D. at Syracuse. Afterwards, Armstrong spent almost a decade at the D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families, building its impactful research and policy programs. Now, years after leaving campus, he has found a way to invest back into the community that helped shape his success.
Armstrong recently arranged for the placement of a Cabana Pod in the NVRC at no cost to the University. The pod, a compact private booth developed by Cabana by Even Health, where Armstrong now leads strategic partnerships, gives users a dedicated space to decompress through guided meditations, breathing exercises, and nature-based experiences designed to reduce stress in just a few minutes.
“The NVRC has always been more than a campus center. It was designed as a national hub for innovation and convening around the needs of the military-connected community,” says Armstrong. “In that sense, it’s a natural home for something like the Cabana Pod, which itself grew out of early innovation work with the U.S. Air Force.”