Health groups get physical on Rec. Day

Locust Walk looked like a spa Friday as passing students were treated to complimentary massages, munched on Powerbars and were tested for their percentage of body fat. Recreation Day, which lasted from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., was a joint venture of the Undergraduate Assembly and several student-health groups including the Student Health Advisory Board, the Drug and Alcohol Resource Team, Facilitating Learning About Sexual Health and Student Nurses at Penn. Members of the Recreation Department also were on hand to demonstrate new fitness equipment, while Dining Services representatives offered nutritional advice. According to College junior and UA Vice Chairperson Samara Barend, one of the coordinators, the event sprang from an idea conceived by Recreation. Recreation had wanted to sponsor some sort of obstacle course to increase waning student involvement in outdoor activities, but was unable to due to time constraints, according to Barend, a Daily Pennsylvanian columnist. And so they decided to join forces with the UA and several student-health groups in order to launch the event. One of the event's highlights was a volleyball tournament sponsored by the UA and the Jewish Activities Center. Several fraternities and sororities participated in the tournament, with Tau Epsilon Phi emerging victorious. The event was well-attended, according to College sophomore Liz Edsall, a SHAB member and one of the event's organizers. "I think people were most interested in the massages," she said. Both Barend and Edsall said they hope to run the event on a larger scale next year, involving more student groups and possibly soliciting the sponsorship of a hospital. "It was great that we could pull this together with so many different groups of campus concerned with health and wellness," Barend said. "It really attracted a lot of attention." College sophomore Rebecca Kirsch said she enjoyed the event. "It was neat that so many facets of the Penn community were all there," Kirsch said. "It seemed to be really well attended, too, and it was a nice day." According to Barend, one student enjoyed the free massages so much that he offered to come back later and pay for another.