By Brandon Davis
A common dilemma many students face when beginning their college careers out of high school is figuring out how to stay in shape while adjusting to a new schedule.
The Student Activities Center’s fitness center offers a variety of different activities to help keep students in shape, including an accessible weight room stocked with treadmills, free and machine weight systems and other cardiovascular equipment.
“In the Louisville Metropolitan area, this [SAC] is one of the best facilities around,” Ken Carey, gym employee, said. “The vast array of equipment and stuff that this facility has here along with the facilities at the Crawford and Humana, it can’t be beat.”
The SAC is open weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and is free with an active student ID.
The SAC fitness center also provides five racquetball courts, two squash courts and complete locker room facilities along with four multi-purpose gym floors which are used for basketball, volleyball and badminton.
“It offers pretty much everything you want,” Greg Welsh, junior nursing major, said. “They have a gym, basketball courts, racquetball and they’re always open when you need them to be so it’s pretty convenient.”
For those looking to keep themselves occupied in some competitive form or just looking for a way to blow off some steam without all the sweat, the Cardinal Corner might be the answer. Also located in the SAC, the Cardinal Corner provides an assortment of free games for students to compete in, including pool, ping-pong, air hockey and foosball.
The Ralph Wright Natatorium, located on the corner of Warnock Ave. and Floyd St., is one for the newest facilities on campus and allows students a chance to swim in an Olympic-size pool. The Natatorium is also home to the U of L’s men’s and women’s swim teams and is complete with an eight-lane, 50 meter competition pool with depth ranging from four feet, six inches to 18 feet.
“It’s really a great facility,” Matt Blanford, graduate student and lifeguard, said. “It’s brand new and I think students are surprised when they find out that it’s even here and they’re allowed to use it for free.”
The Natatorium is open from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and is also open at various times on weekends.
The Humana Gym is another facility available for students looking to work out. Located on Bradley Ave. and Eastern Pkwy., the Humana Gym offers complete weight and cardiovascular rooms, dry heat saunas and gym floors are available when not used for club practices. Free for students, the Humana Gym is open from 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
U of L also offers a variety of different sports clubs and intramural league sports which provide students looking for a more structured plan to help maintain a healthy lifestyle, a solid solution while satisfying their competitive juices.
With clubs like badminton, fencing, gymnastics and many others, students are given the opportunity to compete while receiving a chance to learn a new sport or continuing to play a familiar one. There are also many different intramural league sports students can play including football, basketball, and soccer.
After having his hand raised for a good 15 minutes, a student is called on by Student Government Association President Rudy Spencer. He rises from his seat and asks a question directed to Spencer. "Do you honestly think there are more people who support this meal plan than don't?"
It's no secret that many college students get less than the optimal seven to nine hours of sleep needed, according to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF). In a recent Student Health 101 survey, over 48% of respondents said they frequently or occasionally had trouble sleeping. Stephanie Kane, a senior at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, says she often has trouble sleeping due to general anxiety about the tasks she must accomplish the next day.
After having his hand raised for a good 15 minutes, a student is called on by SGA President Rudy Spencer. He rises from his seat and asks a question directed to Spencer. "Do you honestly think there are more people who support this meal plan than don't?"
"Yes," Spencer answered. The end of his statement was followed by laughter and sounds of disbelief among the people crowded in the SAC's Multi-purpose room.
On Tuesday October 20, Spencer along with Sudexo representatives held a two hour forum to address concerns regarding the mandatory meal plan that will be implemented fall 2008.
Waving her hands in front of a red Dixie cup filled to the brim with beer, Nicole Emberg attempts to distract the two guys at the other end of the table.
As her hands move back and forth swiftly, Eric Winstead pulls his arm back to a 90-degree angle and lightly floats a white ping pong ball into the air.
The ball hits the top of the cup, rims around the edge and falls onto the wooden table.
Emberg, with her teammate, Marissa Hibbs, a fellow peer at St. Catherine College in Bardstown, scream in elation, knowing they have secured victory in the drinking game known as Beer Pong.
"Yes!," exclaimed Emberg, as she gives high fives to her onlooking girlfriends.
Winstead and his team partner, bar owner William Harlow, hang their heads in defeat.
"Owner gets beat by girls," says Robbie Keith, another employee at the bar, grinning at Harlow.
After four months of bad news, the College of Education and Human Development finally received some good.
At a media advisory on Thursday, the college's Interim Dean Blake Hazelton announced a $3.1 million grant they received from the National Science Foundation.
The grant will go toward developing a program for teacher assessment and student achievement, with a specific focus on geometry.
The announcement comes in the middle of a federal investigation into former CEHD Dean Robert Felner, who has been accused of misappropriating close to $694,000 in federal funds and supervising the awarding of a Ph.D. to a student who had only studied at the University of Louisville for nine credit hours.
Oct. 6. A purse grab robbery of a University of Louisville employee was attempted at the corner of Preston Street and Broadway.
Oct. 9. A backpack grab robbery was attempted against U of L students at the Long John's Silvers restaurant also at Preston and Broadway on.
Safety bulletins were issued to the U of L community regarding both of these incidents, which happened near the Health Sciences Campus, by the Department of Public Safety. Though the incidents happened off campus, many feel safety concerns on HSC extend far beyond Preston and Broadway.
Waving her hands in front of a red Dixie cup filled to the brim with beer, Nicole Emberg attempts to distract the two guys at the other end of the table.
As her hands move back and forth swiftly, Eric Winstead pulls his arm back to a 90-degree angle and lightly floats a white ping pong ball into the air.
The ball hits the top of the cup, rims around the edge and falls onto the wooden table.
Emberg, with her teammate, Marissa Hibbs, a fellow peer at St. Catherine College in Bardstown, scream in elation, knowing they have secured victory in the drinking game known as Beer Pong.
"Yes!," exclaimed Emberg, as she gives high fives to her onlooking girlfriends.
Winstead and his team partner, bar owner William Harlow, hang their heads in defeat.
"Owner gets beat by girls," says Robbie Keith, another employee at the bar, grinning at Harlow.
Geoff Beebe was aggravated by the new $250 meal plan requirement going into effect next fall at the University of Louisville, enough so that he was motivated to attend a different university.
"I was looking at U of L because it comes highly recommended to me by my family who has attended this school for at least two generations," Beebe, currently a junior at University of Maryland Baltimore County, said. "It leaves a sour taste in my mouth that there is a mandatory fee in place that I cannot mitigate."
This year's Homecoming activities did not disappoint.
Mehak Bajaj was named Homecoming Queen and OJ Oleka was named Homecoming King. Bajaj, a senior psychology major and Oleka a senior marketing and political science major, were both sponsored by Kappa Delta Sorority.
Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts is slated to speak at the Brown and Williamson Club at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium on Oct. 27. Roberts will deliver opening remarks before sitting down for a panel discussion called "A Conversation with the Chief," according to Gary Gregg of the McConnell Center.
