Meet Josh Jensen. Josh is a junior studying Industrial Engineering at the U of A from Austin, Texas. In addition to serving as a Lead Parent Ambassador, he is also the Outreach and Special Events Student Coordinator for R.O.C.K. Camp 2017 and a member of the Beta Upsilon Chi fraternity here on campus. Even though the University of Arkansas is 8 hours away from home, he can’t imagine living anywhere else.
Everyone fears falling victim to the Freshman 15. It seems to be the one thing that almost every student at almost every university experiences during their first year in college (or away from home where y’all aren’t doing the cooking for them). Now if you were reading carefully you might have noticed that I threw in the word “almost” twice in that last sentence. I did this because the University of Arkansas is a little different from most other universities. “But how?” you may ask. Well the answer is a nice 5 letter word that you can find all over this campus. H-I-L-L-S. Hills. Our beautiful campus is riddled with hills ranging from the shallow inclines you can find near the Union to the treacherous uphill battle that students must encounter when they are walking up Dickson Street (the part of this street going past the Greek Theater and Starbucks… not the other side). Now I’m not saying that the Freshman 15 is defeated by our lovely landscape but we do see less of it here on campus. You also see a lot of students with very nice calves which is again due to our lovely landscape.
The transition to college includes your student trying to figure out what they should and shouldn’t be eating on a daily basis. I speak from experience moms and dads. It took me a few weeks to realize eating the delicious burgers in Brough Commons wasn’t quite what my parents would have been pushing me to eat during my meals. I solved this problem by actually looking to see what the dining halls had to offer. Every dining hall, every day, will have tons of different choices for your student to choose from. Most of you might have noticed that Brough Commons, where y’all ate during orientation, had a mighty selection of foods ranging from pastas, pizzas, salads, sandwiches, burgers, fruits, vegetables, and even options for those of you who are sending your gluten-free students our way! I know I’ve only mentioned Brough Commons in this blog post but I can assure you, the other dining halls have just as many options for your student no matter their palate.
Now I know what you’re thinking, “Uh Josh, it’s great that my student has options for lunch but what about a gym or at least something my student can do to get exercise??”. Hold on y’all I’m getting to that! Here at the University of Arkansas we have a massive multipurpose facility which we call the HPER (yes I’m spelling this right). The HPER has pretty much anything your student could need or want to get a good exercise such as lap pools, basketball courts that can be used as badminton or racquetball courts, and then multiple gyms in which your student can get their daily squats in. Now let’s say that the HPER isn’t enough. Let’s say that your student has a knack or an interest in a sport that always gets their heart pumping. Well, your student can always sign up to be on one of dozens of Intramural Sports teams! And on the slight chance that your student is coming with his or her entire sports team from back home or at least a few friends that all enjoy the same sport, they can start their own intramural team and face off against other teams during the intramural seasons! No matter what your student plans to do at the University of Arkansas, remind them that college isn’t 24/7 work work work. They can have some fun and break a sweat once in awhile which also helps relieve stress when college throws them a curveball.
So, we’ve talked about hills, nice calves, the dining hall’s assorted food options, the HPER, and Intramural Sports. Your student has options when it comes to staying fit and healthy in college so remind them of that and encourage your student to leave their study cave and get out there. I’ve made a lot of my friends participating in intramural soccer and made a few more at the HPER so working out and having fun has its perks.
Woo Pig and Go Hogs