Wellness Week 2017 is well on its way, with the Donald P. Lauda Lecture serving as the kickoff to the festivities Monday evening. The lecture was started with the hopes of using experts to engage campuses in thinking about wellness and how to go about achieving it.
The panel of speakers at the lecture included doctors Robert Sallis and Monica Lounsbery, both of whom touched on topics relating to theme “exercise is medicine.”
Dr. Ayla Donlin, one of the Committee Co-chairs, has served as the director of the Life Fit Center at The Beach for 3 years.
“Our vision for Wellness Week was for it to serve as a catalyst to raise the consciousness of wellness on campus,” Donlin said. “We want to provide specific resources for how individuals can put wellness into action on a regular bases.”
The goal of the panel is to give a global perspective as well as a local perspective on issues such as health, wellness and happiness. The lecture is hoping to create connections both on campus and in the community.
The Lauda Lecture was first integrated into Wellness Week back in 2013. Since then, it has taken off, sparking the interests of students, faculty and staff of all ages.
“Hopefully this lecture and event can give people tangible and practical ways to start to become physically active,” Donlin said.
The third speaker at the lecture, Devon Stone, a fifth year kinesiology major at Cal State Long Beach and the vice president of EIM, provided a student’s perspective on how fitness shapes not only one’s physique, but mentality and outlook on life as well.
“A lot of my work with the Life Fit Center gives me the opportunity to work amongst a lot of leaders on campus,” Stone said.
Stone emphasizes the idea of getting back to a “traditional sense” of what it means to be active. He looks to engage future generations and have them step away from the distractions of social media and technology.
“The overall message of wellness week is inspiring action towards a healthy lifestyle,” Stone said. “We are providing opportunities for people to have wellness and health in the forefront of their minds.”
An example of this is the flash workouts that have been organized throughout three different days of wellness week.
“Spontaneously seeing people working out may make people go ‘oh that’s ok to do? We could do that!’” he said.
The Wellness Fair will finish out the week on Wednesday from 11-2 p.m., which will include 30 different vendors. Student organizations will be providing different assessments from fitness, to health risk screenings and posture analyses.
Project Chill will also be there providing students with the comfort of hammocks, frozen treats, doggy love and more.