More than 75 percent of college women feel stressed out, but ASU women got a chance to kick away their stress literally at the "o.b.U" (oh, be you!) event on Hayden Lawn Tuesday.
Kick boxing and crafts were part of the touring event, sponsored by the tampon brand o.b. The event's main goal was to give women "self confidence," Erica Dermer, a biology freshman and student event spokeswoman, said.
The Associated Students of ASU brought the event to campus. Sponsored by o.b., the event will travel to 16 universities and colleges during the 2001-2002 school year with Elizabeth Filarski from Survivor as its spokeswoman. Filarski wasn't able to make the trip to Phoenix to launch the first stop on the campus tour.
The nationwide event was sparked by an Internet survey on o.b.'s Web site that revealed 75 percent of college women feel stressed while 46 percent feel depressed and less motivated because of their stress, said Jane Buckingham, president of Youth Intelligence, the market research company that conducted the survey.
"(The survey results) clarified to them (o.b.) that this area was one that woman could really benefit from," Buckingham said.
Women were instructed by professional kick boxing instructors and wore punching gloves while they hit and kicked plastic dummies.
Crafts offered women a chance to decorate a collage with inspiring words that will travel to other campuses around the nation, Dermer said.
"ASU students are the first students to be adding to it (the collage)," o.b. spokeswoman Julie Angell said.
The collage will make six other stops this semester at West Coast campuses and will be donated to a woman's organization when the tour is complete.
Broadcasting freshman Jaimi Coop helped decorate the collage and said it helped alleviate stress.
"It's something different," Coop said. "It's a de-stressor."
Reach Kristin Koch at kristinrose79@asu.edu.
