The Student Recreation and Wellness Center is free for all Washburn, Washburn Tech and Washburn Law students, faculty and staff. They provide a workout environment, personalized training programs and technique support.
James Thayer, associate director of fitness and health promotion, shared the mission and vision of SRWC in helping the school community achieve physical goals.
“The mission is to help students, faculty, staff and SRWC members assist them with starting beginning or continuing physical activity, so we accomplished that with six-week programs that we offer two registration blocks and we have four personal trainers to assist with that, so in that they work one-on-one with individuals twice a week to help them towards their fitness goals,” Thayer said.
To start the six-week program, Thayer will have a conversation with participants about their health situation, injury history, and end goal. On the next day, before the training program starts, Thayer will have the participants see what their limit is for lifting weights.
Besides the physical benefits, Thayer also talked about the long-term benefits of participating in the fitness program.
“So one of the big things that I enjoy about this job is being able to meet individuals where they are […] A big aspect that we focus on is not just working out and exercise but also the education piece, helping people learn why we’re doing certain things or how to develop healthy lifestyle habits that they can take once they leave Washburn so they can continue that and it becomes more of a lifelong habit,” Thayer said.
In addition, people can also join in group exercises such as Ichabod Flow Yoga, a dance class, ab intensive, Zumba, and a deep stretch session to focus on their favorite physical targets. Holly O’Neill, director of Forensic Chemical Science, is also the coach of the Zumba class. She has shared her experiences as a fitness coach in the rec.
“I teach Zumba class part-time just for fun. I love to get exercise […] I like to teach classes with both students and faculty. I used to teach an additional class during the day, but I’m also a chemistry professor,” O’Neill said. “There are Latin American dances, there are Middle Eastern dances. It’s just from every part of the world combined. And so all nationalities and all song types are included. Just a very non-judging zone for people to dance and have fun.”
The training program that the rec focuses on is about behaviors and habits around developing a process that is more sustainable and not as random. People can contact the front desk and register for a personalized six-week program at any time. A fitness coach will email them and create plans that they can be consistent with.
Both the six-week training program and the group exercises offer students a chance to relieve some stress during the school semester.
Edited by Sydney Peterson, Jayme Thompson and Cheyenne Hittle
