NMSU to host 2019 Chancellor Walk to celebrate global wellness campaign
New Mexico State University Chancellor Dan Arvizu will kick off the university’s participation in a global wellness initiative called Exercise is Medicine on Campus by leading the 2019 Chancellor Walk Tuesday, Oct. 22, on the Las Cruces campus.
NMSU students, faculty, staff and community members are invited to join the walk, which will begin at 10 a.m. The walk will start on the east side of Hadley Hall and end in front of Corbett Center Student Union, where Arvizu will sign a proclamation supporting NMSU’s health and wellness efforts. The walk is expected to conclude by 10:30 a.m.
“Please us join for this walk as we celebrate NMSU’s commitment to promoting health and wellness initiatives on campus,” said Cindy Kratzke, associate professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at NMSU.
Kratzke’s public health students organized this year’s walk in collaboration with the Aggie Health and Wellness Center and the Wellness, Alcohol and Violence Education Program.
After the walk, the WAVE Program will provide multiple exercise stations outside Zuhl Library, featuring interactive demonstrations and modifications for all skillsets.
“The Aggie Health and Wellness Center endorses exercise as a key component to wellness,” said Olivia De Leon, director of the WAVE Program. “Furthermore, providers and mental health counselors regularly encourage physical fitness as a part of patient care. We encourage students to participate in physical activity and remain healthy Aggies.”
NMSU joins more than 250 universities worldwide in hosting health and wellness walks in October as part of Exercise is Medicine on Campus, an initiative that engages students, faculty and staff at universities across the world in ongoing efforts to improve physical fitness, health and wellness.
“A study conducted at North Carolina State University found that students who exercise regularly in recreational activities are more likely to succeed academically,” Kratzke said, noting the activities included group fitness, intramural sports and time spent at the campus recreation center. “Specifically,” she added, “researchers found that for every extra hour of exercise, the students’ odds of graduating or returning to school the following year increased by 50 percent.”
NMSU was the first university in New Mexico to participate in Exercise is Medicine on Campus, holding its first Chancellor Walk in 2016, and currently has a silver-level recognition from the organization.
For more information about the Chancellor Walk, contact Kratzke at ckratzke@nmsu.edu.
