Saint Xavier hosted its annual health fair at the Shannon Center on March 21. The event included numerous booths aimed at engaging the crowds visiting the health fair through numerous methods.
The health fair typically draws out many within the local community who are interested in actively searching out ways to improve their very own health. There also is frequent student visitors to the fair from Saint Xavier students looking for healthy tips, or just a free meal.
The booths made available to health fair attendants ranged from the simple informational booths, all the way to interactive demonstrations. One booth in particular focused on chair yoga for senior citizens, and it seemed to be drawing quite a crowd from those looking to participant in the yoga trend. There were also many booths dedicated to healthy eating and diet practices, one such booth was actually serving up fresh made quesadillas to those passing by.
There was no shortage of things to see and do at the health fair, and some Saint Xavier students were even involved in some booths present at the fair. One of the booths made available to fair attendants was designed and run by a nutrition course offered at Saint Xavier. Another booth was being hosted by a health communication course taught by Professor Cynthia Grobmeier.
When speaking with Professor Grobmeier about her class’s booth she expressed a clear enthusiasm for the booth her class had created. The health communication course taught by Professor Grobmeier was focused on designing a campaign and booth that reflected the concepts taught in her course. Professor Grobmeier described what her students gained when working the health fair when she stated, “The health fair provided my students with real world experience on how to develop a message for an intended audience using a range of multimedia tools and resources.”
Those multimedia resources were quite apparent in the booth titled Chicago Strong, which focused on delivering information on stress management. The booth included brochures, a stress ball giveaway, and even a link to a student created webpage dedicated to the campaign.
When speaking about the health fair itself, Professor Grobmeier expressed a great deal of interest in participating again in such an event again. Her belief was that events such as the health fair allow students to witness real world applications of the concepts they learn in class.
As well, the fair is viewed by Professor Grobmeier as a great opportunity for the local community to come to Saint Xavier and familiarize themselves with the campus and its facilities, in particular the Shannon Center.
The turn out for this year’s health fair was great with about half the attendants being students, and the other half being local community members, according to Professor Grobmeier. The fair seemed to have a rather steady flow of active attendants throughout its run from the early morning to early afternoon.
With the apparent success of this year’s health fair it seems safe to say that the event will continue its annual run into the future, thus providing many students and community members with more health information.
Jake Alleruzzo
News Correspondent
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