By HAYLEE BATER, Student Reporter
Northwestern offers students, faculty and staff an on campus facility that allows them to practice healthy habits free of charge.
The J.R. Holder Wellness Center is a gym that individuals can utilize for running, swimming, weight lifting and cardio workouts. Students, faculty and staff have access to the equipment and services by scanning their campus ID’s at the front desk. Alva community members can also visit the Wellness Center but have to pay for their memberships.
The Wellness Center tries to promote healthy habits by hosting different classes and challenges throughout the academic year. These classes are also free of charge for students, faculty and staff. The classes include Body Blast, Cardio Kick, Pilates, Spin/Cycle, Water Aerobics and Yoga. The classes change from semester to semester, and the Wellness Center staff is open to class suggestions from the individuals that utilize the facility. The days and time for these classes can be found at www.nwosu.edu/wellness-center-classes or they are posted in the Wellness Center.
“There’s a lot of variety that we try to offer along with everything else that we offer,” said Catherine Engelken, assistant director of J.R. Holder Wellness Center. “We try to do at least two to three fitness challenges a semester to try to get people motivated to come up here.”
The Wellness Center has been evaluated and compared to facilities on larger campuses throughout the state of Oklahoma.
“We just had Blue Cross Blue Shield come and evaluate our facility on our campus, and they compared it to the fitness center at OSU,” Engleken said. “They kept saying how lucky we were to have that here in Northwest Oklahoma.”
Although the Wellness Center sees students and employees throughout the day, the staff would like to see more people participate in classes and utilize their equipment.
“We would love to see the number of students increase as well as our community members.” Engelken said. “We are always open to new ideas if there’s anything that people are wanting to start, like a new class or challenge.”
For more information about classes and upcoming challenges, students and employees can visit the front desk of the Wellness Center or email Catherine Engelken at cgkelly@nwosu.edu.