Campus Recreation and Wellness Center receives third national award of 2019
On Nov. 18 the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) Campus Recreation and Wellness Center (CRWC) received the Facilities of Merit Award from Athletic Business magazine.
This is the third national award CRWC has received this year with the other two being the Outstanding Sports Facility Award from the National Intramural Recreation Sports Association and an American Architecture Award in the sports and recreation category.
The UHCL CRWC was one of ten facilities, from a pool of over fifty, that won the Facilities of Merit Award in 2019. This award is given to select facilities based on functionality, design and overall value.
“To actually win this award is awesome,” said Director of Campus Recreation and Wellness Brian Mills. “It’s one more notch for us to throw out there to the community, and it shows that we did it right from the beginning… This award hammers home that we didn’t just build a gym, we built something bigger than that.”
Diana Portales, graduate assistant for CRWC’s marketing and promotions, called the award a milestone for the facility.
“For so many years this university deserved to have a rec center and to finally have it is amazing,” Portales said. “It’s such an honor to be recognized for this amazing facility, and without the help of the students and everyone who works here we wouldn’t be here.”
The UHCL CRWC opened Aug. 25, 2018. Every student at UHCL can use the facility, as admission fees are included in total tuition costs.
Mills said that initial attendance was strong, stating that the CRWC saw the more visitors in the first two months of operation than the previous fitness room in the Student Services and Classroom Building (SSCB) had seen in an entire year.
However, overall attendance numbers for the first semester of operation were lower than expected with only 28% of UHCL students visiting at least once, and since then attendance has slowly declined with 24% of students visiting during the spring 2019 semester and 22% so far during the current semester.
Mills noted a few potential reasons for this lack of attendance.
“What we didn’t do very well was really paint the picture for what this was going to be for the students,” Mills said. “I think a lot of students and the UHCL community thought that we were just opening a gym.”
Mills noted that the CRWC can be intimidating to those who are not comfortable in a gym environment.
Mills observed that UHCL is in a unique position because the average student age at UHCL is 27, higher than the national average.
“[At UHCL] 53% of classes happen from 3 p.m. and 10 p.m.,” Mills said. “We have to connect the fact that if these students are working full-time jobs then going to class, that’s a 14 to 15-hour day. They’re not going to want to come here with any sort of regularity.”
“We have to take into account our nontraditional student body,” Mills said. “It’s making us rethink how we’re doing our programs and how we’re doing things that you have to register for or be present for at a particular time.”
Because of the lack of attendance, the CRWC will be publishing a non-user survey. This survey will look into the reasons why students are not visiting the facility and offer students a chance to voice their opinions on improvements that can be made.
A link to complete this survey will be sent to students at their UHCL webmail account and flyers with a quick response (QR) code that links to the survey will be placed around campus.
The CRWC is open Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., Fridays from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. The facility will be closed from Dec. 22 through Jan. 2 for the winter holidays.
