Every year, Waynesburg University hosts a studentled health fair to help bring awareness to students about their all-around fitness.
Nursing majors at Waynesburg University take the lead in running the entire Health Fair. The event was held inside the Rudy Marissa Fieldhouse and contained a multitude of events and activities, including a blood drive and a sign-up to register for a bone marrow transplant.
Melany Chrash, assistant professor of nursing, said that the Health Fair has grown significantly over the past several years, as nursing students started contributing and adding more activities. Before, the Health Fair couldn’t count on nursing majors’ participation, and an insurmountable amount of would go into orchestrating the event.
“Students in the Nursing Department started helping eight years ago because student health was overwhelmed because there was only three of them,” said Chrash.
According to Mason Morgan, a junior psychology major, the health fair is successful because Waynesburg University students take time out of their day to come to the event and get a glimpse at what nursing students are taught.
“It’s a great way to support the nursing majors and give them a chance to show what they can do,” said Morgan.
However, Rebecca Bittner, a sophomore nursing major, said that nursing students think otherwise and feel students come to the fair because of the fun stuff.
“Students come due to the exciting learning opportunities and especially all the free food,” said Bittner.
To bring students to the Health Fair, free food—including fresh fruit, popcorn and snow cones—was supplied by Waynesburg alumni Earl Blaker.
Other activities included a blood sugar test, a blood type test, and a test for the student’s posture.
Donna Haines, a part-time nursing instructor, said that students come because of how interactive they can be during the fair.
“It’s educational but with a fun twist,” said Haines. “There is so much to take away from the fair that if you visited every table you would leave with a wealth of information.”
The Health Fair handed out information to provide good health during the college experience.
“It provides information to help prevent illness, properly wash your hands, manage a healthy diet and to maintain mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health,” said Bittner.
The Health Fair has been around for 15 years, according to Chrash, and has been a big hit every year.
“Each year we receive very successful evaluations about the fair,” said Chrash. “It helps students look at health in a different light.”