Maintaining a healthy lifestyle as a student is easier said than done, but UFV’s campus recreation department is hoping to change that.
The department recently launched “Wellness Routes,” an initiative that outlines various walking routes around UFV’s Abbotsford campus.
Cheryl Van Nes, UFV’s program manager of campus recreation and wellness, explained that the goal of the program is to promote healthier living among students.
“We want to get students involved in the recreational community, being healthy and active, and get an experience outside of the classroom,” she said. “We want students to know that there are opportunities on campus outside of what their U-Pass has to offer them, which a lot of students aren’t aware of.”
The idea for the walking routes initially came out of a discussion between the campus recreation and facilities departments.
“It started with facilities,” Van Nes explained. “We asked a number of employees that had been walking on their lunch hour to give their favourite walking route, and that was how they were determined.”
The six routes, which are displayed on the campus recreation department’s website as well as on various signage around the Abbotsford campus, are all varying in length and distance from campus. Some, such as the Library loop (0.8 km) or the Cascades loop (1.87 km) are shorter in distance and stay within campus limits, while others such as the Border loop (5.68 km), which takes walkers all the way to Vye Road, are a little longer.
“We tried to stay within the campus somewhat because we can put posters and signage on UFV property, and then we looked at other areas to make it a bit longer of a walk,” Van Nes said.
Although the program is still new, Van Nes already has plans to bring it to other campuses as well.
“We’re piloting this on the Abbotsford campus with the idea of going and doing this in Chilliwack,” she said.
In the meantime, Van Nes is hoping to get people walking by hosting a social media contest.
“We’re doing a selfie-type, social media launch,” she said. “If you take a selfie and hashtag #wellnesswalks, then we’re going to choose people to win prizes for trying out our wellness walk.”
Ultimately, Van Nes hopes that the program will inspire students to try to incorporate physical activity into their daily lives.
“It promotes people to get up and get active and that’s ultimately what the goal of campus recreation is,” she said. “If students can be physically active, it’s a benefit to their university career, really — healthy mind, healthy bodies, right?”
For more information and a complete list of the walking routes, visit ufv.ca/campusrec.
