Relational Wellbeing

On May 4th 2025, I buried a piece of tobacco as a part of the blessing. We were asked to think about someone that was important to us and bury that piece of tobacco with them in mind. I took this picture four months after the blessing took place. Now that I’m back on campus, I’m glad to see something growing there and that it is tended to. I walk by it often throughout the semester. When I do, I’m reminded of the ceremony and the person I buried that day. I hope this garden is allowed to keep growing.

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-Aaron Estrada-Escalera

The Roommates and I celebrate Miguel's birthday(far right). I bought us a dinosaur themed party set from a nearby Walmart to celebrate. We were all having a great time and decided to save that moment by taking this picture. It’s now a reminder of the fun and warm times I've spend with these goofballs.

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-Leopoldo Hernandez

Co-researcher 4: Friday September 12th, we all received an email with the proposed budget cuts. If I'm not mistaken these budget cuts came to the surprise of many professors and departments. They were told either early Friday morning or late Thursday afternoon that these cuts were being proposed. The lack of consideration that was shown by the university displays the lack of relational wellbeing on campus; people are out of jobs as positions are cut, colleges are defunded, and entire departments are eliminated. I think this creates instability on campus as staff and students have to wonder if they’re next. We also can’t ignore the timing of these cuts which happened after Trump regained the presidency. Cutting the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences department as the effects of climate change are minimized or
ignored by the Republican party sends a political message. The political nature of these cuts adds to the uncertainty we’re feeling. Minoring in Ethnic Studies and Women's and Gender Studies, I know that the existence of these departments are political and can be turned into targets very easily. Co-Researcher 1: At work there has been a general concern and sadness about the proposed budget cuts and wondering who or what department is next.

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-Aaron Estrada-Escalera

Majoring in Psychology and minoring in Ethnic Studies means that a lot of my classes are held in Burnett Hall. There's probably been a semester where all of my classes were in this one building alone. When I first got to campus, I was a bit disappointed that this was the psychology building but I've grown to love and appreciate it. I feel fortunate that my major has a building. I took an Indigenous Studies class here and it's my favorite class I've taken. Most of the professors I've had in this building are so wonderful and it makes life feel much less stressful.

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-Aaron Estrada-Escalera

My friends and I coming back from a Linkin Park concert at 1AM (Circa 2025). We got hungry and decided to stop at a Denny's. I took this photo when we were all in the car and right before heading back to Lincon. It's now a reminder about my friends and to live in the moment before it turns into a memory. We've been together for five years and I want to capture every moment with them.​

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-Leopoldo Hernandez

Exploring pioneers park and found a bridge overlooking a beautiful creek during peak spring. We stopped to observe the creek and were mesmerized by the abundance of fish, insects, plants, turtles and other critters. As we were observing, I took this photo of our shadows. We made an abstract face with two eyes and a nose. This photo is a reminder to stay curious.​

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-Leopoldo Hernandez

The clinic is a space where I build meaningful relationships with both my cohort and my clients. This is a place where spend most of my time and see my friends in the program. We talk about very serious things and to have fun and go on walks after eating together. The walls of the clinic have heard everything from concerns to happy moments and jokes with friends.

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-Kadeja Alkanass

This is a photo of a dinner event that me and my cousins and siblings did together for valentines day. ​We do these dinners/get togethers as a way to spend time together. ​We try to do them every few months. ​It’s a girl thing, we dress up in cute clothes and spend time together even if we don't always see each other. ​This picture shows that even when life gets a little bit busy there is still time to do little events like this.

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-Kadeja Alkanass

My siblings and I often go mini-golfing at night to decompress and spend time together. It is a nice way to get out of the house and have a bit of fun. This is a place that helps relieve stress and build relationships, I have also attended university sponsored events here and met some friends. This place is a nice memory because even when I first got married, I was able to take my husband with my family here as a way for them to get to know him and to connect. Mini-golfing is nice for all ages and serves as a reminder that there is more than one way to spend time with family.

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-Kadeja Alkanass

These are photos I took of relational wellness outside of campus right before my wedding ceremony. This is a photo of all the cultural things from mine and my husbands side of the family.​Each of these items were passed down from different family members and hold a lot of meaning​. To me it represents family from here and back home coming together and bringing these items. ​In a way, they were there too despite them not being able to show up in-person. ​It is a nice reminder of how much the family tries to preserve culture. ​This picture tells you guys about how important culture and family are to my life. ​It can help other connect/re-connect to culture or partner's cultures as a beautiful reminder.

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-Kadeja Alkanass

During the late summer of 2025 I had the chance to witness the Morrill Hall Museum, located at UNL. During that time I got the chance to notice unique styles of clothing, animals that don't exist anymore, and my personal favorite, weapons that were used in battle. The rustic features of the tools give me a nostalgic feeling, despite not being there at the time. Despite not being a violent person, I was still incredibly invested in how creative they were back then. This important building allows many to find our passions whether it be from history, fashion, or creative tools. It also gives the chance to better ourselves from our histories, past actions, and past mistakes. If our generation were displayed now, what would they have? Would it be safer then or safer now? ​

During the spring semester of 2025 my cousin and I were highly encouraged by the UNL community to watch the Disaster musical, shown in a theater located in Lincoln. Despite never being into musicals in the past, the performance had us to the edge of our seats with many laughs and thrills. Their use of purposeful "bad acting" is what intrigued me. What I noticed throughout their performance was the large reliance of creative passions, including sewing for clothing, choreography for dance, and the use of art in the backgrounds. Since that performance, theater has been a large part of what drives me and many others. In theater not just one passion can be inspired, but many passions together work in sync and it has encouraged many peoples' love of the arts, especially when one part allows them to see themselves in it.​

Usually stocked with chips and candy and microwave ramen and cups of mac and cheese, this table represents care. While many withhold sympathy because we "signed up for grad school" the professor who uses their own money to put this table together understands the difficulties of being both a student and a teacher at UNL. They provide us food for the days we forget to feed ourselves. And they provide us with sympathy when it seems like no one else thinks we need it.

In this photo I was trying to see the northern lights with my friends from work. I’ve had a hard time in the past considering the people I work with as friends, they kind of just become their own category of “the people I work with.” But I’ve realized that just because you work with people doesn't mean that they're only associated with work, you can still build and find deeper connections and friendships within those spaces. For me personally, I think that having a sense of community that I can go back to has been super helpful in terms of how connected I feel at UNL. If I didn't have a group of people or a group of friends that I've met through, like, an organization, I feel like college would be significantly harder, because I feel like I would still be trying to find my place on campus. This is especially true as a student who has multiple identities, and I don't really necessarily know which identity to lean into that will help me feel like I belong more on campus. So having a group of people on campus who respect me for all the identities that I have has been super helpful, and it helps me feel like I belong on campus.

This photo is a photo of me and my graduate student mentor catching up. Although we do meet pretty regularly, it's always kind of strictly talking about business, graduate school, and research ideas to kind of get started on another project. Sometimes that can be a little bit scary for somebody like me, and it can be a little bit intimidating to know that we have so many things to do, but getting to know People on a more personal level, and getting to See them as, a person first, before them being a graduate student is really nice and it helps to build more of that community on campus. As a first-gen college student and first-generation American my family's very unfamiliar with the graduate school process. A lot of the time, they question all the things that I'm doing, because they're like, “why are you doing this?” And it's like, “well, I have to...to help my future.” So having a mentor who's very patient and very understanding and very empathetic is something that has been super helpful to me, because, a lot of the time I am also very confused about the process, but having someone who's able to break it down, into simpler steps and make it so it's a lot more digestible to me is always really helpful.

This photo makes me think of my teaching mentor. This is an image of her office door. It was difficult to figure out how I wanted to represent her because our meetings were never just in one place. The one time we were in her office was for our last meeting, we had snacks and were planning a friends giving. Each week we would discuss how teaching was going, the good and the bad. Sometimes they were the only one's that could affirm that I was doing a good job. I looked forward to our meeting every week. it always gave me confidence and made me feel more connected to the other graduate students. I usually feel so removed from them. My mentor, and my fellow mentees, made me hopeful of my future in academia.

On first glance, this photo might be a little bit confusing, because you see a cart full of supplies, but the context of it is finding a group of people on campus that you feel supported and respected by. I think as an as an immigration origin student, sometimes you feel a little bit hesitant joining groups because you're unsure if they're gonna respect you or your identity. But that's been the opposite of my experience on UPC. We have students from all different backgrounds, majors, identities, and so knowing that we're all different, yet we're still able to respect one another has been super helpful in helping me feel more comfortable around my peers. The students in UPC, they are super supportive and it's nice to have a community on campus that I can confide in and feel like they are wanting me to be the best version of myself. Also, the advisors really prioritize student well-being and work-life balance. UPC is a very much a “go-go-go" group; we always have something to do, but when you have advisors that are telling you “hey, maybe you should slow down a little bit”, I think that helps me feel like my well-being is cared about, which is hard in an academic setting.

One of my favorite memories so far in college was cooking and sharing food with friends. While it seems that life revolves around homework and getting a degree we forget that part of being a college student is having fun. In moderation of course. There is not a better way than sharing food and having meaningful conversation with those that care about you. We might believe that there strangers/ friends that don’t think about how we are doing when truly that is not the case. I myself think about strangers I met two weeks ago or friends I no longer talk to and wonder how they are doing.

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-Denisse Peña Paxtle

In this image you can see my Spanish instructor teaching us topics about tildes. I initially took this picture because I needed to take notes. My instructor is a great person who deeply cares about her students making sure they understand the material without making them feel dumb. She is a great example of how faculty ensure students understand the concepts being taught by integrating a flipped classroom, where we complete assignments during class rather than out of class.

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-Denisse Peña Paxtle

Beginning class with instructions before starting a lab is extremely helpful compared to just reading instructions in a lab book that have various missing details. The TA in this Bio lab goes above and beyond, ensuring that students understand what the purpose of this lab is and patiently answers questions when student are confused, rather than just wanting us to finish the lab assignment. Not only does this TA promote efficiency, they give me a greater sense of safety while working in the lab.

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-Denisse Peña Paxtle

This is an image of me at a cat's birthday party, although I feel that's just the pretense for a get together. A bunch of graduate students gathering, and skipping the small talk of programs and future plans and research so we jump right into our wild theories on pop culture and movies and fanfiction and how sloths can probably move faster than we think they can. It is a room full of academics that drop their academic interests and apply their 'great minds' to brain rot instead. It is a space where both identities, the silly goofy and the high academia, can exist.