Center hosts night of activities
for students
By Barney Haney
Staff
Writer
Today from 10 p. m. to 1 a. m. the Purdue Recreational
Sports Center will be hosting its first ever Rec Fest.
The festivities will include roller hockey, ultimate
Frisbee, table tennis, badminton, archery, salsa aerobics, kickboxing,
indoor soccer and racquetball.
The activities will begin at different times throughout
the night. The starting times of the activities can be found online
at www.purdue.edu/YourChoice.
The evening will also include free food and drinks
along with handing out T-shirts and various coupons.
The event serves dual purposes: to offer an alternative
to the traditional weeknight drinking known as "Thirsty Thursday" and
to introduce students to the variety of things to do at the Recreational
Sports Center.
"When people think of the Recreation Center they
get the idea that it is just basketball and weightlifting," said the
Recreational Center Associate Director Sam Axley. "The idea of this
event is to get students to come out, try a new activity and see what
the Rec Center has to offer."
The Purdue Wellness Center is sponsoring the event;
the funds are provided by the NCAA Grant project. The project helps
to fund "choice events" for college students.
"When people think of what college students do
in their free time the perception of 'Animal House' seems to be common,
but it is actually not so," said the Purdue Wellness Center's alcohol
risk reduction coordinator Tammy Loew.
A survey of Purdue students' drinking behaviors
was conducted by the Wellness Center and the Education Development Center
in the spring of 2000.
The survey, which had a 62 percent response rate
by students, showed that 67 percent of students have four or fewer drinks
when partying, 83 percent of students have not passed out from drinking,
and 88.5 percent of students said they would not ride with a drunk driver.
"It is important for students to have a good time
without the consumption of alcohol," said Loew. "The Recreational Sports
Center is a great place to highlight such activities."
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