It All Adds Up, a career health campaign initially launched at Queen’s University, kicks off this week at 17 university campuses across Ontario. The initiative gives students confidence that what they’re doing inside and outside the classroom and the skills and experiences they are developing will form the foundation for their future careers.

“Queen’s students responded positively to It All Adds Up, and we are excited to have the opportunity to share this initiative with students across the province,” says Cathy Keates, Director of Queens’ Career Services, which partnered with the Alma Mater Society (AMS) last year to create the campaign. “In a recent survey, 31 per cent of Canadian university students reported thinking about their careers or futures traumatic or very difficult to handle in the past year.”

Created jointly by the Queen’s Career Services and the Alma Mater Society in 2014, the campaign is designed to help students feel less stressed about their future careers. Using whiteboards located around campus, students write down the activities they participate in and the interests they have and start to see how those things add up to success. They then take a photo of themselves with the whiteboard and post it to Instagram with the hashtag #ItAllAddsUp.

“Many university students feels stressed about their futures and often feel like they should keep piling on more and more activities or else they won’t be successful,” says Queen’s career counsellor Christine Fader. “This campaign encourages students to stop and add up what they are doing. It’s eye-opening and a confidence boost.”

The campaign uses both Instagram and in-person conversations at the photo locations to help students reflect on their successes and share their stories.

“It’s very competitive to get students’ attention with so many programs on campus but It All Adds Up definitely worked last year,” says communications assistant Holly Mathias (Artsci’16). “It’s exciting to see the students taking initiative and learning how their unique skills help them. This is also one of the best ways to reach students, through social media. It doesn’t take a lot of time and the technology for this is right at their fingertips.”

For more information and a list of participating schools, follow #ItAllAddsUp on social media or visit the website.