Campus recreation has many amenities that Stan State students can use throughout the semester that benefit mental and physical health. New collaborations and plans to provide students with more opportunities are to be expected in the near future.
Stan State student Ramviv Junisa (Criminal Justice, Junior) has found many benefits to attending the school’s gym.
“As a student my favorite is the gym because I like working out. I get to work out with my classmates and I like the facilities as well.” Junisa says.
Junisa talks about how going to the campus gym not only affects his physical health but also his mental health in a positive way. He details how building relationships with other students has boosted his motivation as a student.
“Working out with people, possible classmates or like even people that you share the same campus with, is good and you get to make friends,” Junisa says, “You get to meet people here and there, you set up goals and it helps with your mental health.”
Sheylynn Wynn (Senior, Student Athlete and Business Administration/International Business Marketing) also talks about how the gym has helped alleviate her stress.
“Working out on campus provides an easier way to fit a workout into my busy schedule because I can plan to workout in between classes or after. Not needing to commute to multiple places in one day makes my life more stress free and organized,” Wynn says.
Wynn talks about using the other amenities campus recreation has to offer such as the pool and track. She is also hopeful for “longer or more frequent pool hours.”

Junisa explains how he feels that the school could improve their advertising of these amenities. He would like to see more events that are open to the entire student body.
“Create more programs and more fun stuff, more fun activities out here on campus. Many students come to classes and go, we don’t even know stuff that’s going on.” Junisa says.
He states that it has been difficult for him to know what is going on when it comes to school events because things tend to get lost in the heavy traffic of emails. He suggests that adding a volleyball net, basketball court or corn hole area could help encourage students to get connected in a healthy setting.
Wynn talks about how she would like to see more amenities other than the gym and aquatic center, such as a room tailored to gymnastics.

“I think that many people would love to have a place to enjoy a foam pit, maybe a trampoline, and ropes for workouts,” she says.

She also mentions how a sauna and cold tub could be beneficial to add.
Campus Recreation staff also talks about their willingness to help familiarize students with what the gym offers and what’s covered by their tuition.
Joshua Levesque, the Fitness Coordinator at Stan State, goes into great detail about the opportunities Campus Recreation has to offer.

Levesque welcomes students to come visit the facility.

“Feel free and come up and say hello! If they want a tour of the facility, they wanna know more, come in! We offer many amenities, most are covered in their tuition. If they wanna learn a little bit more about their health we do free fitness consultations,” he says.
Levesque talks about how everyone gets a free fitness consultation. They do this by doing a full body scan that will give you an idea of where your fitness levels are at and where you want your goals to be.
“We are always trying to add in more intramural sports,” he says, “We are always trying to add in our group exercises. In the future we are always trying to push for more events so we can get people to socialize more.”
The gym provides group workouts such as zumba and specific body part workout classes students can sign up for. If group settings aren’t your thing there are one-on-one personal training sessions available.

Personal trainers such as Levesque are here to help you get familiar with the gym as well as help you along your fitness journey.
“We are trying to partner up more and more with departments.” Levesque says.

He talks about how they not only include students, but also want staff involved too.
There are also workshops available for students to sign up for. These workshops consist of outdoor activities such as fishing, hiking, camping, archery and snowboarding.
“It doesn’t necessarily need to be at fitness level, just general activity,” Levesque says, “We offer so much here, we offer for anybody. We try to offer everything and anything we can just to offer that social experience. So yes I do tell people they should come in here.”