In celebration of the Campus Recreation Center’s “16th birthday”, Seawolf Living announced that starting Mon. Sept. 28 that the Instagram page for the Sonoma State University Campus Reaction Center,@ssucampusrec, will be hosting a digital spirit week that involves themes such as Mindful Monday, Team Support Tuesday, Workout Wednesday, Trailhead Thursday, and Flashback Friday. 

These interactive posts are not only celebrating the 16-year-old campus building, but it also provides chances to win a T-shirt for one of the participating students.  

The Campus Recreation Center was created in 2004, where it now offers a variety of programs that involve adventure, aquatics, fitness, wellness, and intramurals. 

According to the campus recreation website, Sonoma State students have a paid membership, through their tuition fees, which allows them to experience the entirety of the Recreation (Rec) Center. The experience includes a fitness center, an indoor track, a climbing walk, cardio equipment, game room, inMotion group fitness classes, and much more. 

Due to the pandemic, the Rec Center has been closed for the semester of fall 2020. 

The Rec Center can be a place of opportunity for memories for the students at Sonoma State University, especially for upcoming undergraduates. 

SSU alumni Jack Ellman says that the campus recreation center helped him find a sense of peace when he attended Sonoma State. 

“It helped me find a therapeutic place to put my earbuds in, blast my music and work my stress of whether it was from classes, my social life, or anything else, ‘’ said Ellman.

The recreation center even allowed Ellman to find a group of friends during his first year attending Sonoma State. 

“My first week at school, I met with a random group of people that had gathered outside of my dorm. We ended up going to the Rec Center lobby area to hang out and in that group was my soon to be girlfriend, who I’ve now been with over 2 years.”

Director of Campus Recreation, Shelbi Long, says that she believes that students are missing connections and activity with the Rec Center being closed. 

“When a student is involved in any extra-curricular activity, it helps them succeed in the classroom. The benefits of going to the Recreation Center are endless but I think overall students are missing that outlet that allows them to feel better and connect with their peers. A student’s overall physical, emotional, and mental health is improved when we are in the facility participating and connecting,” said Long. 

Amanda Danter, a front desk associate at the Rec Center, shared her positive social experience, building connections with those who utilized the Recreation Center. 

“When I saw the same recurring participants, I would learn their name and start to have conversations with them while they were checking in,” said Danter.

Danter also shared that the atmosphere of the Rec was friendly and fun by not only offering a place to work out, but also providing relaxation and entertainment from a sauna, ping-pong tables, a pool, and the rock wall. 

Long explained that the Rec Center team was approved for making improvements before COVID-19 and that they are hoping to get those completed at some point before opening, whenever that may be. 

“We just received new equipment this past year in the cardio alley and are looking to do some innovative programs. We would also like to continue to provide virtual classes and workshops to make all of our programs accessible to our students,” shared Long.

Though the Rec Center may be closed, they are still pushing to pursue the student community through social media and following their purpose of supporting students by making them feel connected to one another. Clearly, Seawolves are looking forward to is reopening.

Students can become more involved with the campus Recreation Center by following them on Instagram at @ssucampusrec.