At lunchtime Wednesday, a human-size banana and cigarette could be seen breaking it down to the beats of Penn State's Raw Aesthetic Movements Squad outside the new Student Health Center.
The banana and cigarette took a break from practicing their moves to hand out condoms and "Don't smoke" window clings to students watching the spectacle at the event. Later, the cigarette even helped to take carbon monoxide readings of students who visited the "smoke free station" of the center -- all part of Wednesday's Student Health Center open house.
The revamped Student Health Center, which opened June 9, held an all-day open house to "show off the building and get students familiar with how they can get healthy on campus," said Beth Collitt, University Health Services marketing manager.
The open house -- attended by more than 600 students, according to Collitt -- consisted of various stations located throughout the building. Students followed a checklist to each station, where they learned about health conditions or services offered at the center.
Once students visited the station, they received hole punches in their checklists; once seven of 11 stations were completed students became eligible to win large prizes, ranging from Wii Fit with Wii Sport to bike helmets to massage center gift certificates.
Aaron Choi (sophomore-business and finance) came to the open house to receive extra credit for a class and said he appreciated the time he spent there.
"It's fun getting different free stuff and learning about what there is to offer here," Choi said.
Stations included the physical therapy center, where students could play on a Nintendo Wii game console, and an online resources center where students received a demonstration of the technology facilities available at the Student Health Center.
The hand-washing station, where a clinical volunteer used a black light to show the germs on hands before and after washing them, proved to be a big hit as well.
"I couldn't believe the hand-
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washing thing worked. I thought it would be BS," Lindsay Schneider (junior-biobehavioral health) said.
Another popular station was the stress and sleep station, where students were shown how lack of sleep and high stress levels could affect health. The station also gave away relaxation CDs to help people sleep.
"People never talk about lack of sleep, so it's pretty cool they had a station," Choi said. "I'm always stressed, so I'm glad I got a CD."
The open house also included a condom critter crochet session, a new way to learn safe sex practices. The activity taught students how to knit animals with secret compartments meant to hold condoms.
"I really want to crochet a little owl that holds condoms. It's pretty cute," Jessica Levin (junior-biobehavioral health) said.
The day also consisted of walking tours of the building and dance performances from groups such as the "Dance Dance Maniacs," Penn State's student Dance Dance Revolution club.
The building, a five-floor student medical resource haven, is complete with a green roof, recycled material carpeting and numerous materials made from bamboo, Collitt said.
Apart from being environmentally friendly, the building boasts pleasing aesthetics, Collitt said. The building has floor to ceiling windows overlooking campus, multicolored walls and even a hallway filled with artwork.
"It's much brighter and open, plus it's really colorful and a nicer building," Levin said.
The efficiency of the building has also been improved compared to Ritenour Building, which was the location of most on-campus health resources before the Student Health Center opened, Collitt said.
"The clinical services are all together now so you don't have to keep running around the building like in Ritenour," Collitt said. "The appointments flow quickly now."
Collitt said a goal of the new health center is to get students to just "come hang out even when they are well."
"They want to come here to just do their homework because it's so nice, but hopefully being here will help them stay healthy," she said.
