Alexandra Mosquera Netzkarsch / BBC Managing Editor
The Wellness and Recreation Center experienced an average of about 1,000 students a day during the first week of the new fall semester.
“I’ve seen a lot of students come into the gym the past few days and it’s pretty full even during the slower hours between 2 and 5 p.m.,” said Jonathan Daley, a junior majoring in journalism.
Daley just started working at the Wellness and Recreation Center at BBC on Aug. 25.
“I work at the front desk and I’ve noticed that most are FIU students, but some are students from MAST high school and Royal Caribbean,” said Daley.
On Aug. 26, the Wellness and Recreation Center had 1,032 students make use of the machines and group exercise classes. The number has changed since the break between the end of the summer and the beginning of the fall semester session. The number of students coming into the Wellness and Recreation Center averaged a few hundred and sometimes about 100 per day.
“BBC is filling up and you can see it,” said Elias Bardawil, Director of the Wellness and Recreation Center at BBC.
Compared to the numbers from last year’s start of the semester, where the numbers ranged between 400 and 500 per day according to Bardawil.
There is an increase of students attending BBC during fall as opposed to the summer sessions or the summer break. This means that more students will be using the machines offered by the center, as well as the group exercises, according to Bardawil.
“Students have expressed their excitement about the new cardiovascular machines,” said Bardawil.
There are 12 new cardiovascular machines in the center including elliptical, treadmills and crossovers. They are all wifi enabled and the screens even allow for the students to choose a location, for example a pathway in London, and pretend the student is exercising there with help of a video showing a scenery of that location on the screen in front of the student.
“We care about the students and want them to enjoy our center and what it has to offer,” said Bardawil.
He also added that there will be a Rec Expo taking place between September 14 and 18 at BBC.
On September 16, Shaun T, creator of Insanity, will be one of the speakers at this expo.
“We will have a Careers in Sports and Recreation event on September 17, which will take place between noon and 4 p.m. in the WUC Ballroom.”
Warren Shaw, Assistant Director of the Wellness and Recreation Center said, “We’ve been trying to do this for a while now and we’re excited it’s finally happening.”
“With this event we want to lend a helping hand to students interested in a career that involved sports, recreation, wellness and fitness,” said Shaw.
According to Shaw, a lot of students can relate to sports, anything ranging from recreation to wellness. This is why they put the event together, to reach out to those students. However, this event is open to all FIU students.
“There will be a Q and A with the lecturers, which are about four right now,” said Shaw. “And we have Jason Jackson from the Heat coming as well vendors from the Marlin’s.”
There will be 15 to 20 vendors at the career fair after the lectures.
“For those students who are passionate about sports this is a great opportunity,” said Harold Clayton, Associate Director of the Career Services Office.
Photo by Jasmine Romero / Multimedia Director
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