Lindsey Axel (left) and Meghan Cohen of the Health and Wellness Center, speak to a student at the Love Your Body Zumba event at Eppley Recreation Center on Friday, Feb. 7.
Say goodbye to the name Campus Recreation Services, and hello to its new title, University Recreation & Wellness.
Beginning Aug. 1, the department that oversees the university’s gyms, club sports, intramurals, adventure programs and more, will go by a new name, or its abbreviation, RecWell. Officials said they hope the name change and the accompanying rebranding effort will encourage all students to check out the recreation services and wellness programs offered.
“People may not have connected with us as CRS. Maybe they had a preconceived notion that it was only for people who were really fit or into sports,” said Kate Maloney, RecWell spokeswoman. “We want to introduce ourselves in a new light, so they see that we can help everyone work toward wellness.”
The decision to change the name came out of 2012’s five-year strategic plan, in which the department expressed a desire to better express its role at the university. It is just one piece of an overall rebranding effort, Maloney said.
In addition to the name change, the department will advocate for healthy choices through all of its marketing channels: social media, signs in its facilities and its wellness publication, Student Health 101, while also working closely with the University Health Center, Maloney said. With this marketing technique, RecWell plans to explain the benefits of participating in recreation and wellness programs, rather than just giving students the what, where and when.
“Wellness is a lifelong journey that ebbs and flows,” Sarah Wilson, University Health Center health and wellness coordinator, wrote in an email. “Through the emphasis on wellness at RecWell and increased partnerships between our departments … we’ll be able to elevate the value and importance of wellness.”
Jen Macko, group fitness instructor and brand ambassador with the new Active Terps group on the campus, said the department’s focus is not just about the gym. It’s more about helping everyone to be fit no matter what they enjoy.
“The gym isn’t just for weightlifters or people doing hour-long workouts,” the senior behavioral and community health and kinesiology major said. “It’s about being ‘well in your shell’ all over campus.”
Active Terps seek to “encourage students to move often and begin to see themselves as active human beings,” according to a RecWell news release.
“We want to really highlight that connection between activity and well-being,” Maloney said. “We don’t just want to advertise what we’re doing, we want to advertise what the university can do for students.”
The health center currently offers meditation sessions, sexual health consultations, alcohol and drug education programs, stress management services and smoking cessation programs through its Health Promotion Unit. RecWell and the health center plan to promote each other’s existing programs, Maloney said.
Beginning in the fall semester, the health center and RecWell plan to run a wellness blog, written for students by students, Wilson wrote in an email.
For now, the name change better reflects the array of services the gym provides, said junior computer engineering major Amanda Lotwin, a RecWell group fitness instructor.
“Fitness is a big part of wellness. If wellness is this large circle, fitness is a little circle inside,” she said. “It contributes to overall well-being, mental wellbeing — feeling good, being happy, being healthy. It’s all connected.”