Out of the Dungeon
Alum Compares New Rec Center with MPE
By Lisa Griffith Story, '84

I was a couch potato until my freshman year of college in 1980. Physical fitness was becoming a craze, inspiring movies like Perfect. My inspiration came in the form of a fellow waiter who told me I had been burritos.

I had to balance my workouts with school and a job while competing for space with the athletic teams at the McDermott Physical Education Complex (MPE). I avoided the showers because the male coach of the women's basketball team had his office inside our locker room. (I guess that was before there was much awareness about the message that sent.)

With the opening of the new Student Recreation and Wellness Center, students have more options to help them stay healthy. Funded almost exclusively by student fees, the Rec Center is a place where students can gather to play hoops on one of four basketball courts, imitate Beckham on the indoor soccer fields, run on the indoor track, and enjoy a no-wait cardio workout on the treadmills or stair-step machines. The weight room is not only expansive, but it also lacks the sweaty dungeon aura I recall from the MPE's dual weight-lifting and wrestling room.

In addition to intramurals, recreation and fitness options, students can access Health Services in the new center. Use of Student Health Services has risen 28 percent since it moved to the centrally located Rec Center, truly putting the emphasis on students' overall wellness.

UNLV's Rec Center is the largest, most impressive fitness facility I've ever visited. Located near the Student Union and dorms, the center strives to keep students on campus longer and bring former students back. Research shows that students who are involved on their university campus are more likely to be engaged alumni when they graduate. Let's face it, we will never be ranked with the Ivy League schools until we have stronger alumni support for the institution.

If you're searching for a reason to come home to UNLV, take a tour of the new Student Recreation and Wellness Center. Memberships are open to alumni, who might find working out with today's students rejuvenating.