Julia Brookshire (far right) and Grace Nedza (next to Brookshire) on the pickleball court. Photos by Jonathan Wang. 

LOVE LEE | STAFF REPORTER | llee1@butler.edu 

During a busy semester, it might be hard to find time for enjoyment or recreation. The National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) partnered with campuses across the country to celebrate Recreational Sports and Fitness Day, or Rec Day, on Feb. 22. The Health and Recreation Complex (HRC) took part in the celebration again this year by setting up an array of recreation-related stations across campus, as well as hosting activities at the HRC. Julia Brookshire, a senior human movement and health science education major and wellness and safety programs intern at the HRC, planned the event with help from her supervisors and fellow staff. 

“What we wanted to do was get outside of the HRC to show that recreation can happen anywhere — it doesn’t have to be working out,” Brookshire said. “And that’s where the stations all came from. But we also wanted to … get across campus so that people see that we’re here and we don’t have to exist within this building.” 

From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., staff from the HRC tabled at stations in the HRC lobby, Lilly Hall, Dugan Hall, Jordan Hall and Levinson Family Hall. At these stations, students could receive a Rec Day passport that displayed all the other stations that they could travel to. Items such as towels, T-shirts, coloring pages, bracelets, lavender pot plants and journals were available to students for free. Later in the afternoon, there were activities in the HRC lobby, games of knockout and pickleball on the courts, as well as the HRC’s regularly scheduled group fitness classes with Disney and sports jersey themes. Brookshire aimed to broaden the meaning of Rec Day through these events. 

“The big [idea] with Rec Day was that recreation is any activity that you do for enjoyment,” Brookshire said. “So, you could be watching Netflix and you’re recreating; you could be walking outside or gardening.” 

When people finished going around to each of the five stations with their Rec Day passports, they could turn them in at the HRC to enter the raffle for a BU Be Well package with goodie bags that featured a yoga mat and BU Be Well T-shirts. Grace Nedza, a senior math major who works as an operations supervisor at the HRC, assisted in taking passports and entering students into the raffle. She said she was pleasantly surprised by how many people participated. 

“We [at the HRC] were honestly impressed by the turnout and how many people wanted to participate,” Nedza said. “I know it was pouring rain today, so it might have been hard walking around to different rooms and buildings, but people still turned up and did it.” 

Elaine Stribley and Breanna Van Dreel both graduated from Butler this past December and work at the HRC as a group fitness instructor and equipment specialist, respectively. They came to the afternoon pickleball game to join in on the fun and explained what recreation meant to them. 

“For me, it’s a really important time to de-stress, and figure out what to do with my time now that I’m a little more loose in that scheduling,” Van Dreel said. “So it’s nice to just have a scheduled time to just enjoy myself and be active and participate with other people.” 

Stribley emphasized how she uses recreation as a designated time to take care of herself and share the love she has for movement with others. 

“It’s definitely like a [form of] self-care for me, and I really enjoy anything movement-based,” Stribley said. “I also teach Zumba here, and I like to lift as well.” 

Brookshire said the HRC is looking to plan more events to get students involved from across campus and socialize with others who might want to do the same. Future events can be found on the HRC calendar.