Archive for ‘Classes’

The opening of the Royce and Pam Money Student Recreation and Wellness Center is ushering in a new era at Abilene Christian University, in more ways than one: For the first time, ACU will offer dance classes for academic credit.

“We’re bringing that wall down,” said Dr. Joe Bell, chair of the Department of Exercise Science and Health.

The two new classes — ballet and modern dance — are among the first of what will likely be several years of transition as the department adapts its curriculum for the new facility.

Another significant change will be the introduction of a fitness class as one of the two activity courses included part of each student’s core requirements.

In years past, students were required to take ESXC 100 — Lifetime Wellness, a freshman-level, primarily lecture class — followed by three activities, such as bowling, pickleball or racquetball. With the introduction last year of ACU’s new Core, those were reduced to two required activities. One of those now will be EXSC 101, a fitness-related followup to Lifetime Wellness, Bell said.

Students will use the rec center to develop a fitness plan in 100 and will be tasked with carrying it out in 101, he said. The new curriculum will apply to entering freshmen this fall.

With the Wellness Key providing opportunities for tracking how a student uses the wellness center through all four years on campus, the new curriculum allows Exercise Science faculty to engage in research about the usage patterns and health habits of ACU students, Bell said.

“We feel that’s a cutting-edge way to go,” he said. “Not a lot of people do that.”

The three new classes are just the start, Bell said, of how the new facility will change the offerings and emphases of the department in the coming years.

“I’m sure we’ll develop some curriculum-type things,” Bell said. “There’s so much we can do. It’ll be really great. We’re trying to keep our curriculum open enough where we can make changes on the fly.”

The view from the bank of windows along the south wall of what will soon be a pair of 5,000-square-foot group-exercise rooms.

Sporting such colorful names as Zumba, Circumference and Capoeira, the exercise-class offerings in the Royce and Pam Money Student Recreation and Wellness Center have been unveiled.

“I think it’s going to be great,” said Dr. Kerri Hart, the facility’s director of exercise programing. “When I visit with students in my classes or I explain to people the programming in the facility, they get very excited when they hear Boot Camp, yoga, indoor cycling.”

The classes — 12 in all — include a mix of name-brand and generic-alternative programming, as well as a few currently offered for credit at Abilene Christian University. These classes, however, will be strictly extracurricular.

Several classes were developed by the university’s Department of Exercise Science and Health to replicate brand-name offerings that are too expensive for ACU to offer. These include Circumference, an indoor-cycling class similar to the popular Spin class offered at many health centers.

“You might have experienced other indoor cycling classes,” a written description of the class states, “but you have not truly experienced indoor cycling until you have experienced Circumference. Come full circle as you improve your cardiovascular endurance and tone your entire body. … [M]ake sure to bring a towel and water. You WILL need both!”

Likewise, Push — “a dual workout for both upper and lower body” for those seeking to “define your muscles while gaining strength” — is similar to the name-brand Body Pump class, Hart said.

Then there’s the hard-to-pronounce Capoeira (Cap-WHED-a), a Brazilian style of martial arts that “provides a fabulous blend of athleticism, martial arts and artistry.”

The classes will be offered in three groupings — early in the morning (6:15 and 7 a.m.), noon and early evening (4:30, 5:30 and 6:30 p.m.). In all, there will be 26 total class sessions per week, including two on Saturdays.

“This grouping of classes was based on the many visits we made and what other universities provide,” she said. “The times are based on what they said were the busiest times for their classes.”

Classes will be available as soon as the building opens, Hart said, and they initially will be free to allow students to sample them.

However, students seeking to participate in a class ultimately will have to pay for it by purchasing a punch card that will be good for any 10 class sessions in the facility. The price for the cards has yet to be determined, but is likely to be less than $50, Hart said. Paying for the classes helps ACU hire the certified instructors who will be teaching them — and keeps the university from charging every student for classes only a few will take.

“They’re still getting a very good deal on a holistic facility,” Hart said. “To me, it’s not fair to charge people who are not interested in group exercise to pay for the teachers who are certified to teach those classes.”

The full list of classes and their descriptions follow the jump.

“I’m excited to see the response of our community,” she said. “I think it’ll be good.”

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