GIFTS: Balance Builders: Stirring Together Community, Conversations, and Culinary Metaphors for Wellness in First-Year Engineering Students

Balance Builders (BB) is an innovative initiative designed to foster community and support mental and physical wellness among freshman engineers. The Balance Builders initiative exemplifies how community-driven programs can empower students and enhance the first-year journey through a unique mechanism: Cooking and Community Nights. Designed by engineering undergraduates in consultation with mental health professionals, BB creates a natural and familiar environment space for first-year engineers to engage with difficult topics without feeling externally imposed. In our work, we will describe the origins and evolution of the program in response to student feedback. Recognizing that strong bonds within communities are essential to student success, our program is a dynamic, hands-on experience. Every Thursday evening, we guide a small group of freshmen through cooking lessons that blend practical culinary skills with open dialogue. By preparing meals, we not only nurture essential life skills but also foster an environment where meaningful conversations can flourish. We will describe the framework we use to create these meals as unique metaphors, their grounding in evidence-based concepts from clinical mental health research, and our preliminary evidence for the effectiveness of the program. Our approach is built on our slogan: a balanced life starts with a balanced meal. The culinary focus is particularly fitting for engineers, who often appreciate the logical precision and creative problem-solving that cooking and baking require. These activities, grounded in mathematics and systematic processes, serve as metaphors uniquely tailored to the engineering mindset, highlighting important topics in mental wellness through the approachable lens of the cooking process. For instance, crafting unique sushi rolls mirrors the challenge of overcoming imposter syndrome, while creating a perfectly imperfect beef wellington illustrates that success does not demand perfection. These sessions are not merely about cooking; they are a vehicle for building a sense of belonging and encouraging dialogue about common challenges such as procrastination and the pressures of transitioning to college. After we cook each meal, we sit with the students, eating and discussing topics relevant to the week's theme such as, "What does community mean to you? And why is it important to have community in college?". Ultimately, our program is designed to increase engagement and provide a space to develop critical connections with upperclassmen and peers, reinforcing partnerships across campus and empowering students from diverse backgrounds. Our approach highlights the importance of innovative, community-driven methods in engineering education, demonstrating that nurturing the mind and body can go hand in hand. We envision a sustainable legacy in which returning students help perpetuate the Balance Builders' mission, ensuring that future cohorts continue to thrive in a supportive and balanced environment.