By: Lindsay Bragg
A Ferris wheel and free food will highlight this year’s Involvapalooza, Wednesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The Involvapalooza will also introduce BYU’s new Student Wellness Campaign. The campaign’s website says it is in place to “provide guidance, education, resources and opportunities in an environment that is supportive of lifelong behaviors which promote a healthier, happier, successful life.” The campaign features eight dimensions of wellness: career, emotional, environment, financial, intellectual, physical, social and spiritual.
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Involvapalooza is an annual event sponsored by BYUSA. Other activities include giant balloons, a rock wall, cotton candy and popcorn. However, the main purpose of the event is to encourage students to get involved with clubs on campus and to promote student wellness. Clubs from around campus will have the chance to set up tables to encourage students to join. They will be organized based on their relation to the different dimensions of health.
“Facets of student wellness are convoluted and lost within the immensity of the university” said a BYU AdLab study. “Students are unaware as to the services the university offers and find out what little they know through inconsistent channels … There is a need for an information hub.”
The new website of student wellness will provide this service.
Student wellness is a high priority for university officials. The aims of a BYU education state that a BYU education should be character building and lead to lifelong learning and service. The goal is to provide information and experiences that can be used later in life.
“Most takeaway knowledge students have comes from outside the classroom, rather than inside,” Hall said.
The goal of the Student Wellness Campaign is to provide this takeaway knowledge.
A major project of the student wellness campaign is the creation of a new BYU Student Fitness Center in the Smith Fieldhouse. This new fitness center is open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., and no classes will be held in the center. The Student Wellness Campaign combined an open floor classroom and a weight room, previously all used for classes and combined them to create the fitness center. Now, all weightlifting classes will be held in another weight room.
The new facility is about 6,000 square feet and includes 15 treadmills, 14 elliptical machines, five arc trainers, seven bench press stations and other weight machines. There is a total of 94 separate stations for student use. It is located in 293A SFH.
“The new fitness center is so much better,” said Ali Fredrickson, a senior PD bio major from Seattle . “I used to dread going because it was so crowded or closed. I was going to join a gym. Now I’m not going to.”
The Wellness Campaign also recently opened a spinning room and spinning classes. Spinning involves stationary bikes that can be adjusted to simulate hills and terrain. A video at the front of the room allows riders to feel as though they are riding outside. The campaign also added classes in aerobic dance, Pilates, yoga and Zumba. There are 15 new sections this semester to accommodate 470 additional students.
The Student Wellness Campaign will also provide new activities and seminars to promote other dimensions of student health, including a seminar on student loans and an initiative to require the Cougareat to have nutritional information readily available for students. Also, the health center will administer flu shots and blood typing during the Involvapalooza.
For information on activities throughout the year students can text “wellness” to 53535.
