Thursday, March 28, 2013
Campus A5
The Auburn Plainsman
Eat Healthy, Be Active workshops help prevent obesity Becky Hardy CAMPUS EDITOR
With Alabama being ranked the fourth most obese state in the country, Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of Disease and Health Promotion of Alabama developed the ‘Eat Healthy, Be Active’ workshops available throughout the state. Each workshop lasts six weeks. Each workshop addresses the foods people should eat to stay healthy, how to cook those foods, along with types of exercise people should do three or more times a week. “The main goal of the workshop is to teach people how to eat healthy and become or maintain physical activity that is based on the dietary guidelines of Americans and the 2008 physical activity for Americans,” said Onikia Brown, assistant professor of nutrition and extension specialist at the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. “The workshops are done through science-based advice that help prevent obesity and the risk for major chronic diseases.” Participants of the workshops will learn what types of food to buy at the store as well as easyto-grab snacks that are still nutritious. “For example, there are snackable peppers, which may seem off putting, but there’s small peppers that can be found in the produce section that all you need to do is rinse them off and pack them up,” said Valerie Conner, extension specialist at the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. “People pop grapes in their mouths all the time, but you can also pop cherry tomatoes in your mouth too.” The beginning sessions focus more about
what to eat and what not to eat. “One of the first sessions we’ll have people try different types of spices because we’re trying to move people away from sodium,” Conner said. “We’d rather them season their snacks with herbs and spices and let them see how it would fit in their food preparation. We’ll let them go in and try different foods, so they don’t go out wasting their money purchasing it if they don’t like it.” Along with people throughout the communities of Alabama, these workshops also target students. “College students are also at a very transient time and this workshops would really help (them),” Brown said. “It would equip them with tools that would give them a higher quality of life as they move onto the next phase of their life. It would also help them in their current phase of life, just to keep them actively thinking about eating healthier and keeping them physically active.” The workshops also address healthy choices at restaurants for students to choose from. “Also if you’re living in your own apartment preparing your own meals, one of the workshops it shows you how to make healthy recipes with a slow cooker,” said Helen H. Jones, extension specialist at the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. “It can teach them how to make healthy meals at a low cost and have more time for studying.” Although there has not been enough data to see actual changes within diet and amount of weekly exercise of the participants, Brown said that participants have come up to her to show
CONTRIBUTED BY SHANE HARRIS
Each workshop focuses on specfic topics such as easy exercise routines and eating healthy.
their gratitude for the program. “By the end of the six-week workshops we’ve found that people have changed the way they shop, the way they prepare their meals, the way they think about physical activity,” Brown said. “Participants would come up to me and say ‘I’m so glad I’m here. I’ve learned so many things.’” Brown offers some tips on eating healthy and staying active for students looking to keep motivated. “When you plan out your day it should include your planned eating and physical activity,” Brown said. “If you plan out your meals, you’ll know what you are going to eat, when you are going to eat, so it’s not a mad dash to the vending machine where you’ll be eating a high calo-
rie, low nutrient snack.” With appearance being a huge part of a young person’s life, Jones said eating healthy and staying active is the way to keep that part of their life in check. “Another thing young people like to do is look good and be able to dance and move around if they eat healthy and stay active then they can do that,” Jones said. All Upcoming workshops are on Saturday from 9–10 a.m., and dates include March 30, April 13 and 27 and May 25. All sessions are located at True Deliverance Holiness Church in Auburn. For more information call Helen H. Jones at (334) 201-6775.
Tigers on Wall Street network to prepare for their futures Kailey Miller CAMPUS REPORTER
While some people were getting tan at the beach or heading up north to ski, other Auburn students went to New York and experienced Wall Street for their spring break. Frank Oprandy, director of graduate career services in the office of professional and career development, took 12 Auburn students on a four-day trip to Wall Street to help them begin networking for their futures. “For this last trip every visit but one was either facilitated or led by an Auburn graduate,” Oprandy said. The group visited places like Goldman Sachs, the New York Stock Exchange, Bloomberg, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch and the Office of Controller Currency. At the end of the trip, the students met with Auburn alumni. “Alumni met with our group, some of them in the financial industry, some of them not, but all of them willing to help,” Oprandy said. “From a networking perspective if they weren’t in the industry they might know somebody in the industry so they were very willing to connect our students with people that could help them.” This is the third trip that Auburn has organized for students to visit Wall Street. The group consisted of both graduate and undergraduate
students. “The best part of the trip was definitely the visit to Bank of America/Merrill Lynch,” said Matthew Humphry, first year masters of finance student. “It was really interactive, we went out on the trade floor and were able to interact with people who were actually trading and then afterwards we met with an investment banking recruiter that recruits Bank of America/Merrill Lynch and he gave us great insight on . . . what it takes to make it into Wall Street.” The students also had free time to explore New York. They saw Time Square at night, went shopping on Fifth Avenue, the Empire State Building and Rockefeller Plaza. Some students used their free time for interviews and networking on their own. “The idea of the trip is to build up your network,” said Ralph Reed, Junior in finance. “We were meeting with people from different sectors of the bank, they were telling us what they do on a daily basis.” Rigby Coleman, junior in finance, said that Oprandy did a phenomenal job running the program. Many of the students said that the trip made them realize how much they would have to do to get to Wall Street. One of the people that they talked to had
CONTRIBUTED BY FRANK OPRANDY
Auburn students visited sites in New York City such as the Wall Street bull, Merrill Lynch and NYSE.
made 11 trips to New York and went to 30 other places before getting a job at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch. “It was inspiring to hear that it could be done for an Auburn student if you’re willing to put in the work to do it,” Coleman said. Humphry said he would go back again.
Auburn wins Tree Campus USA Designation Kailey Miller CAMPUS REPORTER
For the fourth time, Auburn University has won the Tree Campus USA designation from the Arbor Day foundation. The award has five criteria that include having a tree campus advisory committee, having a campus tree care plan, having a campus tree program with dedicated annual expenditures, having an Arbor Day observance, and having a service learning project. Gary Keever, professor in the department of horticulture, compiled the information and submitted it based on what has been done at the university, which awarded Auburn with Tree Campus USA status. “It’s prestigious in the sense that it gives us a positive publicity about tree planting on campus,” said Art Chap, professor in the school of forestry and wild life sciences and professor in forest biology. “It also encourages service projects from faculty, staff and students, it’s very all inclusive and it made the university aware of the value of trees. We meet these particular criteria every year and it includes everything from spending a certain percentage of the budget on trees such as tree planting, removal and pruning,” Chap said. Chap was involved in the writing aspect of the award while Keever took the lead,
Chap said. The Arbor Day Foundation is a non-profit organization that began in 1972, said Gail Riese, communications and marketing specialist. It enhances trees and tree protection. “Its primary mission is to inspire people to plant, nurture and celebrate trees,” Riese said. “I think that this particular designation of being a tree campus USA really recognizes the university’s achievements when it comes to best tree management practices.” Auburn has several recognitions of Arbor Day on campus, Chap said. In the last few years it has been a tree give away at the arboretum. The facilities management landscaping staff maintains more than 600 premium acres, which is land that does not include things like the woods or arboretum, Riese said. The Tree Campus USA designation has to be recertified each year, which means Auburn must resubmit their information each year. “We have these five standards as a bench mark and we have to continue to show that we meet these standards,” Keever said. “New trees are being planted all of the time, as you walk around campus you may see some of the workers with landscape services pruning trees and doing various other things to promote their health.” The university has also con-
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service-learning project. Auburn students have participated in this aspect of the It’s prestigious in criteria. “The school of forestthe sense that it ry and wildlife sciences stugives us a positive dents planted more than 600 Longleaf pine seedlings on publicity about campus,” Riese said. “Its actutree planting ally been part of an ongoing services learning project that on campus. It they have been involved with also encourages for the last two years.” service projects Auburn was the first school in Alabama to be recfrom faculty, staff ognized for this award and is and students.” now using the award to pro—art Chap mote trees on campus including proper maintenance, PROFESOR IN THE SCHOOL OF FORESTRY AND WILD LIFE Chap said. SCIENCES AND FOREST BIOLOGY Riese believes that by receiving this award, it demontracted with two firms that will strates the university’s comhelp develop a campus land- mitment to its natural resourcscape master plan. es by establishing and sustainvww It will serve as a template ing the healthy campus comfor Auburn for the next 30- munity. 40 years in terms of planting “It recognizes that the unitrees on the street and provid- versity has made a commiting guidelines to help Auburn ment to its trees both in terms make decisions to create a uni- of planting more trees, taking fied campus where trees play care of those trees and proan important role, Keever said. moting the awareness and As part of the criteria for benefits that trees have in our this award, there must be a lives,” Keever said.
“I’m getting ready to go work an internship with IBM in Texas doing mergers and acquisitions,” Humphry said. “I’m coming back to Auburn to finish my last semester of my degree and from there I’m hoping to work in mergers and acquisitions, potentially with one of these major banks.”
Auburn Running Festival
Saturday April 27,, 2013 Starting at Toomer's Corner and finishing on the 50 yard line of Jordan-Hare Stadium
1/2 Marathon 10 K 5 K FunRun www.runauburn.com
Use the code PLAINSMAN and save 25% off your registration for any event!