A yoga instructor teaches yoga in Woulfe Alumni Hall. Girls Living Out Wellness Club, a new club on campus, organized the event. (Evan Neubauer/The Crest) 
Students meet to participate in a GLOW club yoga event in Woulfe Alumni Hall. GLOW Club is currently the largest club on the St. Thomas campus, with over 415 members. (Evan Neubauer/The Crest) 
Students do a yoga pose at a GLOW club event in Woulfe Alumni Hall. (Evan Neubauer/The Crest)
Juniors Abigail Hutchinson and Lilee Surdell launched the Girls Living Out Wellness Club this fall semester. The club has since taken off in terms of student engagement, with the most followers and members of any club on the St. Thomas campus.
Through physical and social wellness activities, GLOW aims to bring women together in a supportive and inclusive community.
“We want to bring girls together and encourage them to get to know each other, to promote an active lifestyle and offer a fun snack, drink or treat after each event … We hope that girls can build long-lasting relationships, and we’ve already heard the positive impact it’s making on other people’s lives,” Hutchinson said.
Last September, Surdell knew she wanted to create a walking club. Originally called “Cardio and Croissants,” the club was rooted in the idea of wellness, specifically group walking events with snacks on the side.
Hutchinson and Surdell were roommates during a study abroad semester in London last spring when the idea of a wellness club for women came to life.
The leaders pitched their idea from London and were told to reach out to other clubs because their ideas were similar to those of already-existing clubs, such as the Running Club.
“We still recognized ourselves as different,” Hutchinson said.
In March, they contacted Omega Ti, a women’s fitness club open to reimagining their mission. The club wasn’t offering events as often as it used to, and Hutchinson and Surdell built on the other club’s preexisting foundation to make their club.
They changed the club name, adjusted the mission and finalized the club.
“We were scheduling a lot of Zoom meetings from London. We sat down and wrote the club constitution one night, because we ate, slept and breathed GLOW,” Surdell said.
Although it took time, the leaders said the planning and dedication was worth it.
“We wanted to show that we’re so passionate about building this community. We’re willing to put in all the work to make this happen. I think it just took a long time for that to really resonate,” Hutchinson said.
After obtaining club approval, the next step was to find participants. Hutchinson said that after posting updates on her social media, she had over 10 people apply for a position on the GLOW Club e-board.
“I did interviews while I was on a solo trip to Finland in May. We finalized our e-board. And then July was when the real work started: the first real group meeting,” Surdell said.
Hutchinson and Surdell saw the environment they created at their first event, called Flow with GLOW – Guided Group Yoga, on September 17th.
“No one saw it going to this scale. Our e-board was expecting maybe 30 people,” Surdell said. “We were saying that if we got 40 girls to go on a walk, how cool would that be? And then we had over one hundred girls come to yoga, and we’re like, ‘Whoa,’” Hutchinson said.
GLOW Club is currently the largest club on the St. Thomas campus, with over 415 members and hundreds of active participants at weekly events, according to Surdell.
“It’s not major-specific, and we felt like that was super important to encourage girls from all across campus to be able to join. And then on top of that, we have no club requirements. The requirement is to just come when you can and feel comfortable enough to reach out if you ever need anything,” Surdell said.
In addition to being as accessible as possible, Surdell said the club is so popular because the leaders are authentically passionate about their values.
“Every single value we try and give to other people. We believe in ourselves, and it’s just so genuine. All I want to do is be a support system, and it’s hard for people not to see that,” Surdell said.
“We joke like, ‘I’ve never had this many emails in my life!’ But at the same time, if I could put all my time into this, I would, because it’s just something that we’re both so passionate about,” Hutchinson said.
The club leaders said that the growth their club is experiencing is unprecedented. They have had to communicate with the Assistant Director of Campus Life, Jeff Holstein, to discuss planning the donation process.
“We’re grateful for all the donations that we have, and especially because some of them are female-owned or they’re female wellness-related brands or local businesses here in St. Paul,” Hutchinson said. “We wouldn’t be able to offer most of these events without donations.”
Hutchinson said that cold-DMing business Instagram accounts started the momentum.
“The amount of people that have said ‘yes’ or ‘I’m interested’ or ‘tell me more’ has been shocking …
They saw our vision. They can tell how passionate we are. They see a need for this community, and they’re so excited to support it,” Hutchinson said.
The leaders said that connecting with the greater community helps them meet the original goal of GLOW: to reach more women and to encourage an inclusive and empowering community.
“We can connect them with various activities, specifically workouts and wellness events. We do yoga and self-defense classes, and also our social wellness events … The whole point is to bring girls together, encourage them to get to know each other and also promote an active lifestyle …That’s where the community-building really takes place,” Surdell said.
Hutchinson said the values the club was founded on directly relate to its success.
“We’re two very strong women who embrace that we’re very confident and passionate about what we set our mind to,” Hutchinson said.
Sabrina Thompson can be reached at thom4836@stthomas.edu.