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| ASU grad Bouboulis
breaks into pizza |
Sarah Howell
Features Beat
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Foster Hunt | The Appalachian After a year of being unfit,
sophomore elementary education major Terry H. McKay from Greensboro
said she chose to take some initiative about being fit and became
an Appalachian aerobics instructor.
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In an environment
where the “freshman 15” is not a myth, coffee often
becomes an asset and pulling an all-nighter is never a surprise
during finals, health can easily become a lesser priority for
Appalachian State University students.
Sophomore elementary education major Terry H. McKay from Greensboro
experienced the struggle between health and everything else.
“I had gotten terribly out of shape my freshman year. Having
always had sports practices, I never had to make myself exercise.
So when I got to college, I just didn’t,” McKay said.
After a year of being unfit, McKay said she chose to take some
initiative and became an Appalachian aerobics instructor. |
“When
I finally decided to start exercising, I wanted to make sure that
I knew how to do it effectively and holistically—in a healthy
way rather than just weight loss.
“The UREC program here was offering to train instructors,
and I saw my opportunity to learn how to effectively reach my
goals,” she said.
McKay currently teaches aerobics classes at both workout facilities
on campus. She also led an aerobics activity for the third and
seventh floors of Hoey Residence Hall in February.
Trained student instructors teach most classes at the Quinn Recreation
Center and Mt. Mitchell Life Fitness Center facilities as a way
to get students actively involved in health issues.
McKay said she believes Appalachian is doing a wonderful job in
promoting a healthy body image over a skinny body image.
“Health involves the mind, body and spirit. Rather than skinny,
which takes care of weight loss only, being healthy involves eating
right, taking care of your body, getting the rest you need and
exercising—all of which contribute to your body functioning
at its optimal performance level.
“The UREC program regularly has programs going on in both
workout facilities educating both males and females of statistics
about health and fitness,” McKay said.
The UREC sponsors an aerobics program each semester as well to
get students involved. “Fall Back Into Shape” and “Spring
Break Survivor” challenged participants to attend a variety
of aerobics classes through the duration of program.
Freshman Meredith P. Hines, from Summerfield, took part in “Spring
Break Survivor.”
“I thought it would be a good motivation, and you could win
prizes. It gets you to try classes you normally wouldn’t
take. I went to a yoga class and I’d never done that before,”
Hines said.
The Counseling Center also takes an active role in promoting health.
The cardboard cutouts of Barbie and The Rock seen inside buildings
around campus are the Counseling Center’s way of informing
students about the difference between healthy and fabricated fitness.
The cutouts are loaded with facts on what Barbie’s true proportions
would be if she were a real person and the abuse athletes such
as The Rock put their bodies through.
Even exercise science and nutrition students involve themselves
with health awareness by sponsoring contact tables and health
fairs. These types of events help inform students not currently
involved in any other kind of recreation.
However, for all the effort the university seems to be putting
into making students aware of their health, some students have
still missed it and others feel there is always room for improvement.
When questioned about what it means to be healthy one student
responded, “I don’t know, good blood pressure, cholesterol
and all that crap.”
Others simply said, “Being in your average weight range.”
“You need to have a strong immune system and be physically
fit, meaning not overweight,” junior computer information
systems major Joel D. Edwards from Boone said. “The biggest
thing for me though, is the strong immune system.”
Edwards said he thinks the school should be more informative about
daily diets.
“They do a good job with physical fitness, but they are lacking
on education on what to eat, as far as a balanced diet. Probably
because Food Services knows healthy food is expensive,” he
said.
Other students also suggested some changes.
Hines said she did not even find out about the program until after
a week into it.
“To find out you have to have the motivation to go get it.
They don’t mail you stuff.”
Although it seems impossible sometimes, college students can be
healthy.
When Terry McKay took the initiative to get in shape, the resources
were there—but like everything else in life, it has to be
a choice.
“I used to define healthy as skinny, but the more involved
I become in health and fitness, the more I see the benefits of
being healthy, one of which usually is weight loss,” McKay
said. “I find myself striving for muscle tone, or more endurance
rather than a smaller jean size. And in striving for fitness,
the toning and weight loss I want fall into place. Though I can
always improve, I do define myself as a healthy person.” |
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