OSU promotes campus-wide wellness

Monday, January 30, 2012

By Stephanie Taylor

Oklahoma State University is encouraging the entire campus to keep healthy resolutions for 2012 with a number of wellness programs, both new and old.  

“The idea of wellness is very broad,” said Mary Talley, OSU Wellness Center program manager. “We want to have programs that go beyond fitness because wellness envelopes everything that has to do with health.”

Wellness Center program changes are also designed to encourage greater participation. As of last August 1, memberships to the Seretean Wellness Center and the Colvin were funded by the university and brought under one administrative unit. For OSU students and full-time staff and faculty that means free access to group classes and programs at the Colvin, Seretean and the Student Union.

“The university felt it would be an effective way to merge two programs campus-wide,” said Kent Bunker, Colvin Center director. “The goal was to move toward a healthier lifestyle for students, faculty and staff.”

In the past, faculty and staff had to pay in order to use the facilities the students were using. About 1,000 OSU employees are now using the facilities each month since the Seretean and Colvin services consolidated, Bunker said. “The groundswell of support is amazing. The faculty and staff are obviously grateful the university made this available.”

All students and staff can take advantage of both the Seretean’s and Colvin’s fitness and wellness programs. They have access to all the pools, gyms and courts, explained Bunker. Participants can get involved in one of the 50 intramural teams or attend one of the 100 or more classes offered, most of which are free.

“We have a lot going on,” said Talley. “We definitely bump our programs up at the beginning of the year.”

The Biggest User program is back again for the new year. The program started in spring 2010 and was originally only available to students. The Biggest User offers two fitness assessments, a goal-planning session, three personal training sessions, nutrition counseling, a challenge course, monthly seminars and a free t-shirt. 

“The idea is to create a sense of accomplishment and build teamwork by working with a personal trainer in classes such as the ropes course,” said Jeanne Croka, assistant director for fitness and wellness.

OSU employees can take advantage of a new program starting up in 2012 called B.A.L.A.N.C.E., which stands for Building a Lifestyle on Activity, Nutrition, Confidence and Energy. The program is aimed at fitness beginners and focuses on physical activity, nutrition and lifestyle modification.

Every month, the Seretean provides a class with a speaker who talks about wellness. The program is called Wellness Wednesday and the next scheduled class is Feb. 17, when the topic will be heart health.

Another free service is provided by circulating personal trainers who are available at designated times at the Seretean  to assist people with workout questions.  Free personal fitness consultations are also available upon request as well as fitness center orientations at both the Seretean and Colvin. The orientations showcase cardio equipment, weight machines/ free weights and available programs. 

The demand for making fitness and wellness programs available to all students and full-time staff and faculty was evident in a wellness program survey conducted at OSU last year, Croka said.  Survey respondents requested more classes on nutrition and classes for people who don’t know how to use equipment or just don’t use the gym very often.

“We are trying to meet the needs of OSU,” Croka said.  “We are providing good, solid programs that people will enjoy, and when you are having fun, you are more likely to make it a habit.”

Another initiative to get the campus healthy is called Certified Healthy Departments. The program seeks to promote wellness and health throughout campus and asks departments to support individual initiatives to get healthy. The program focuses on physical activity, mental health, stress management and nutrition. Applications become available Feb. 1, and are due March 1.

“We had nine classes last year and we hope to double that number this year,” Talley said.

The mission of the various programs is to cater to the individual who wants to enhance their health and fitness, according to Garrett Hester, who serves as campus recreation student coordinator and personally uses wellness program services.

“The programs focus on all aspects of health and fitness and emphasize the importance of education so the participants can walk away with the ability to make the changes they feel necessary to their lifestyle,” said Hester.

“The group fitness classes provide me with a great workout and exciting experience every time I attend,” said Chelsea Jones, a participant in the Colvin group fitness program, which includes several different classes. For instance, she participates in Pump & Tone, Bunz & Gunz, and HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training).

OSU hopes to continue to encourage students, staff and faculty to take advantage of the wellness program services, said Talley. “The message is pretty simple actually, we want to help our employees and students live healthier, happier and more productive lives.”