Fitness and Recreation Center invites students to compete for prizes and learn more about resources the center offers in their annual incentive program from Jan 27 to Mar 8.
“Envision 2020” is a six-week program aimed at helping students create behavioral changes that could not only last them the year, but the entire decade. Students can earn points by going to the gym and working out which can be used to win prizes.
Dr. Beth Palmer, the executive director of Fitness and Recreation, said she believes the key to the program is behavioral change.
“The purpose behind everything we try to do and promote would not [be] just to provide a location for an activity or program but to also provide some way where you can truly embrace what you’re doing and truly have a behavioral change and mindset of wellness,” Palmer said.
Allison Meguro, the assistant director for Health and Wellbeing, said Envision 2020 is not completely different from Commit to Fit,” the fitness program they did last spring, but one new element they started implementing is bonus points. Meguro said the bonus points are another way to incentivize students to participate in some of the other activities and programs the Fit and Rec offers. Students can earn bonus points by going to a group exercise class, participating in intramural sports or going to the climbing wall.
“Everything across the health and wellbeing scope we have in [the Fit and Rec],” Meguro said. “Really it just exposing our students to all of the things we have here and creating those habits and behavioral changes, so they can help themselves be better students while they’re here and then better people even after they leave [TWU].”
Meguro said that one thing that worked last year when Fit and Rec did Commit to Fit were pop-up programs, and when working with her student supervisors, Meguro said she wanted to make sure they incorporated more of that into Envision 2020. This year, participants can also earn bonus points by going to the special pop-up events.
“The students lead the programming choices, and we want to make sure it stays like that,” Palmer said.
Senior social work major Deborah Abimbola said she didn’t work out often before she signed up for Commit to Fit last year, but she decided to sign up because she thought it would help her stay committed to working out.
“I used the opportunity to Commit to Fit program as a commitment to exercise to control my weight and reduce my fluctuating high blood pressure,” Abimbola said. “I’ve always wanted to exercise by myself, but I have not been faithful. I was diagnosed with high blood pressure a few years ago, and my doctor recommended exercising, which I did, and it worked out great.”’
Abimbola said she also registered for Envision 2020 again to help her lose some of the weight she may have gained since last spring, and believes the program is helpful.
Blair Baumann, a junior dental hygiene major, also competed in Commit to Fit and said even though she didn’t register for Envision 2020 because she is training for races, she believes the program is a great way to build discipline.
“I think it’s a great way to stay on track with being fit,” Baumann said. “It keeps you accountable even on the days when you feel your weakest. These workout programs truly enforce the idea that even on our worst days, something is always better than nothing.”
Plamedie Ifasso can be reached at pifasso@twu.edu
Featured Image: A sign advertises the Envision 2020 event at The Texas Woman’s University Fitness and Recreation Center in Denton on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020. Photo by Sarah Pham.
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