Pandemic life for college students is overwhelming, challenging, and isolating.<\/p>\n
Two UConn students, though, wanted to help their peers build supportive connections during this time of uncertainty and physical distancing, and they\u2019re doing so with the creation of an online platform, Refreshr<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWith mental health, it\u2019s sometimes hard for students to support each other,\u201d says Alex Kim \u201922 (BUS), who co-founded Refreshr with friend, Jamison Cote \u201922 (SFA). \u201cLast semester was definitely just weird, and unprecedented, and crazy. Entering this semester and the coming semesters, it’s still going to be different \u2013 it\u2019s a new way, how we learn and how we interact with other people. With such a drastic change, we still need to be able to be resilient as students and to be able to support each other, because we’re going to need it the most, especially during a time like this.\u201d<\/p>\n Like pen-pals for the Internet age, Refreshr works to match students with each other and then helps them to record a video message specifically for their partner and use Refreshr\u2019s one-way video sharing platform to send their words of encouragement. While most of the platform\u2019s current participants are also UConn students, their goal, Kim says, is to connect a diverse group of students from institutions across the country that can form lasting connections.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted to make this a platform where students can send videos with uplifting messages of support and positivity to other college students,\u201d says Kim, \u201cto hear from students like you who are going through the same struggles of being in college during coronavirus. With Refreshr, we\u2019re trying to build a community of students supporting each other.\u201d<\/p>\n The idea for Refreshr, says Kim, came while he and Cote were enrolled in \u201cThe Entrepreneurial Journey,\u201d a course taught by David Noble, associate professor and director of the Peter J. Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation<\/a>, and was modeled after their mentor, Noah Friedman, and his similar 6FTCloser project<\/a>. The platform launched in early September, and Kim says they hope their focus on college students will help promote well-being amongst their peers.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone needs to take care of their mental well-being because these struggles can happen to really, really anyone,\u201d he says. \u201cI think coronavirus has really showed the impact of being isolated from other people and just the difficulty of the circumstances that are now placed upon us as students.\u201d<\/p>\n