Students find ‘natural high’ at Health, Fitness Tour
Traveling fair aims to encourage healthier lifestyle
By Allyssa Lee
Daily Bruin Staff
As a person who enjoys the outdoors, Ahmed Jaffer tries to stay
active in many physical events.
"I like mountain climbing and rock climbing when we go to public
parks like Sequoia," Jaffer said.
However, as a first-year chemical engineering student, Jaffer
said he doesn’t get the opportunity to rock climb very often. So
when the Artificial Rock Climb came to UCLA as part of the
Jeep/Eagle Collegiate Health and Fitness Tour at Pauley Pavilion,
Jaffer jumped at the chance.
"I’ve always wanted to do this, ever since everyone has seen it
on ‘American Gladiators,’" Jaffer said. "So I figured if I didn’t
take advantage of the situation, I’ll never get to try one of these
things."
The Artificial Rock Climb is one of the many events marking the
Health and Fitness Tour, a two day event focusing on health, safety
and athletic activities. The event, co-sponsored by Boost Alcohol
Consciousness Concerning the Health of University Students
(BACCHUS) and Intercollegiate Communications, encourages
alternatives to having fun in college aside from drinking and
partying, officials said.
"The whole concept (of the tour) is to present alternatives not
only to drugs and alcohol, but to healthier lifestyles," said Shawn
O’Hagan, special events coordinator for Intercollegiate
Communications Inc, an event marketing company. "We want to help
students educate their peers concerning responsible habits,
attitudes and lifestyle choices related to alcohol, drugs and other
health issues.
"We really try to focus in on the college students by doing
things that they will be interested in," said O’Hagan. "It’s a good
way for students to get information while having fun doing it."
The event, marked by several inflated floats and tents, included
activities such as a velcro fly wall, a gladiator joust by IBM and
a bungee run competition by Neon. Several booths also passed out
informative booklets and pamphlets on healthy alternatives to
college life.
Students participating in the events said the message the tour
exudes is positive.
"I think they’re letting people know that it can be fun to
participate in healthy athletic events," Jaffer said. "That
(physical activity) doesn’t have to be arduous to be physically
fit."
Representatives at Natural High, a UCLA-based organization
primarily designed to offer alternatives to drugs and alcohol, said
the tour was a great opportunity to promote its message.
"The tour was something (the school) could never afford," said
Vicky Luce, Natural High coordinator. "Since they were concerned
with health topics, it was a perfect way to do a mini-information
fair."
The organization set up a booth and distributed several
informative pamphlets in addition to an Alcohol and Other Drugs
Survey for students. The survey was designed to reflect students’
attitudes and use of drugs and alcohol, Luce said.
Students, however, while expressing the need for such a survey,
said the survey did not consider non-users’ lifestyles.
"It may apply to some of my friends, but it didn’t really apply
to me," said Alejandro Chavez, a first-year undeclared student. "I
think it definitely affects me one way or another  different
people are doing different things, but it doesn’t really say much
about my lifestyle. It was a survey about drugs, and I don’t do
drugs. It doesn’t reflect my lifestyle."
Originally based exclusively on the East Coast, the tour
expanded in fall 1994, to include UCLA as one of 50 schools
involved in its West Coast stops.
"UCLA was chosen among several of the West Coast schools because
it’s a high impact, visible campus," said Drew Hunter, executive
director of BACCHUS. "Bringing (the tour) there is very useful and
good for healthy programming."
The largest turnout of any campus, the UCLA division of the tour
brought in an estimated 800 students, according to the tour
manager.