Today, January 25th, Cougar Wellness hosted the annual Student Health Fair for the third time. The fair was held in the Diner and the Student Lounge, starting at 11am and ending at 1pm.
The Counseling Center, Country House Restaurant, Pillars, Public Safety, the Health Center, SXU’s Northwest Credit Union, the Shannon Center, the Student Nursing Association, the Student Veteran Alliance, and the Tobacco Free Committee, were all present at the fair.
Students were given massages, information about nutrition, and free lip balm. There were also blood pressure screenings, raffles, samples, and refreshments offered. Other students participated in fitness challenges such as minute sit ups and push-ups.
Marcos Quiroz, Shannon Center student worker and representative at the Health Fair, shared his opinion about the Health Fair. “It gets students more involved. Coming to the Shannon Center, for example, a lot of students are pretty motivated to come but they feel they have to be at a certain level to come to the Shannon Center, but in reality no, no matter what level you are in health, you can come in, start where you are at, and improve yourself.”
Quiroz recommends other students to come to future Health Fairs. “Last year, I didn’t come and now I’m [participating] . . . I’ve definitely become more involved and I want to improve my health.”
“I’d like to invite everybody to come to the Shannon Center. A lot of people don’t want to do it, but once they know what we do and who we are, they get really excited to join,” said Quiroz.
The Health Fair was very well received by the students. Some shared their opinions about it to the Xavierite.
“I think it’s a great way for people to know about certain topics like the Tobacco Free and the Sexual Assault Committee. Personally, I wouldn’t go out of my way to go to a presentation, so this is more convenient. The Student Lounge is great for people to have access to it and find out about things they didn’t know about,” said Sireen Mahmoud, a freshman majoring in Nursing.
Mahmoud’s favorite activity was the drunk driving goggles at the Counseling Center’s presentation, which consisted of putting on goggles that simulated the vision of a drunk individual and trying to shoot a basketball at the same time.
Jose Rodriguez, SXU sophomore majoring in Nursing, was one of the raffle winners. He won a $20 gift card for Starbucks. “I think [that the Health Fair] is very helpful, it helps students learn about sexual diseases and stuff like that . . . I’m pretty sure there are a lot of people that are not educated in these type of things . . . I liked all the fitness tests, they were pretty fun.”
For further information on the organizations involved with the Health Fair and the services that they provide to the student body, check out the SXU website! http://www.sxu.edu/
Miryam Villarreal
Senior News Editor