By Vanessa Broadbent (The Cascade) – Email
University isn’t easy, and the ever-looming thought about finding a job after graduation sure doesn’t help. No matter what department you’re in, this is the same and Kinesiology and Health Science students are no different. That’s why the Kinesiology and Physical Education Student Association (KPESA) hosted the second annual Kinesiology Day.
The event, which was held at the Canada Education Park (CEP) campus in Chilliwack last week, featured interactive games, fitness tests, free yoga classes, a guest panel, and, of course, free food.
Marissa Corea, KPESA’s vice president, explained that the event equips students with the knowledge necessary to making an informed career choice.
The panel of UFV alumni and kinesiology or health science students offered their advice to the audience.
“We have a panel of UFV alumni who’ve graduated from here and they’re doing different things in the field,” Corea explained. “It lets you know what your options are.”
Even the interactive games and fitness tests were designed to be beneficial to health science students.
“With fitness testing, you can find out what you’re going to be doing later on in the program,” Corea said. “In the 400-level classes, you’ll be doing [oxygen uptake testing], so you can see what to expect.”
In order to secure funding for the event, planning had to start in August, and despite a few bumps in the road, Corea felt happy with the success of the event.
Although the goal of Kinesiology Day was to help students learn more about the program, members of the KPESA are hoping to raise awareness about their association on campus, and that’s proven to be difficult now that most health science classes are at the CEP campus in Chilliwack.
“Since it’s moved here, there’s not a lot of student engagement so we’re just trying to get people excited about it,” Corea said. “We just want people to be involved and have a student association that has events for health sciences [and] for kinesiology students and people are excited about it and happy to be here and they don’t just have their head down, studying all the time.”
Corea, along with many other students, found that becoming involved in a campus association has improved her university experience, and noted that KPESA is attracting a strong core of students.
“I think its easier to make friends if you’re involved in a student association,” she said. “We welcome everybody in and we’re excited about it.”
If anything, Corea explained that the KPESA hopes to at least have opened students’ eyes to how interesting kinesiology and health sciences can be.
“We’re all human, we all have bodies, and it’s interesting to learn about them.”
