Assistant Features Editor

The 2018 Rec Fest featured many smiling faces that welcomed and encouraged students to be more involved and discover the opportunities at the Student Recreation Center. Students eagerly walked about the gym and participated in classes and activities such as cycling and basketball.

Multiple booths were set up with physical activities and games that allowed students to not only get moving but have fun while doing it.

The start of a new semester calls for a way to be better than the year before. That’s exactly what the SRC has planned for the upcoming year. To kick off the new semester they held their annual Rec Fest, a chance to give students, especially incoming freshman, an opportunity to become familiar with what the SRC has to offer.

Aaron Aragon, student manager of marketing for the SRC, explained the new focus for this year’s Rec Fest and how he hoped to not only help students but the environment too.

“The previous years we printed a lot of stuff, whether that be maps or scheduling so this year we’re really emphasizing sustainability,” Aragon said.

Students who attended the event were given wristbands with a link that allowed them the access to the rec center’s website, through any mobile device, students found information on rec center classes and schedules. These wristbands limit the amount of paper waste that would have been printed and handed out during the event.

Aragon states the importance of this event is also presenting the students with a place to go while on campus, “Rec Fest is important because we get to show the campus recreation center and a large part of letting students stay on campus is having a place to go while on campus. Studies show that people who are more involved and active on campus tend to stay and finish their degrees.”

The recreation center offers students the use of all the exercise equipment, and a variety of work out classes. However, if students do not want to work out there are multiple sections of tables and chairs where students are welcomed to relax and work.

Another activity for students was “Speed Friending,” which is speed dating but instead of finding a date, you meet a new friend.

AJ Carino, a senior at CSU Bakersfield, enjoyed her experience in “Speed Friending” and saw it as an opportunity for something new, “[speed friending] was very fun. I got to meet people I would never meet before…that don’t hang out in my friend group, don’t go where I go, or aren’t in my classes.”

This allowed students to not only become familiar with the faces that work within the SRC but with each other.  

A new addition to the rec center is the Rock Climbing Club.

Miranda Maliska, a sophomore and new member of the club, worked the event and talked about the club’s exciting plans for the new semester.

Maliska also spoke about the misconceptions people may have about the recreation center and how Rec Fest answers these questions, “A lot of people don’t realize the rock climbing is something that you can do for free. A lot of people think you have to pay for it so this gives them a chance to check it out and try it out. All the staff here are very friendly and we always just want to help you out so come talk to one of us and we can always be there if there are any questions.”