One of the most interesting General Education Requirements (GERs) is the Mind and Body GER. While there are a few classes to fulfill this requirement, most students end up taking Health and Wellness in the Health Sciences department. Furman Students describes this class as a more intensive physical fitness with a good helping of a general understanding of health sciences.
Let me tell you that this class scared the heck out of me. In middle school and high school, the mention of the PACER test would make my spine tingle. I am the complete opposite of a jock and by no means would I describe myself as “fit.” I imagined running up and down a track field while a very intimidating professor would scream that I was not doing the exercises correctly.
I had already begun to sweat as I entered my classroom. We hadn’t even started exercising! Thankfully, my fears subsided when I sat down at my desk. My professor wasn’t some intimidating, muscle bulging, jock but rather friendly and “realistically” fit. Even better the class syllabus was fun and engaging. We weren’t just going to be running and lifting weights, we were going to be doing Zumba, yoga, spin classes, and Pilates. All of these exercises seemed fun and engaging.
While I thought that this GER was going to be useless, it ended up benefitting me more than just from a health perspective. Yes, it made me a better eater and have a better understanding of the nutrition I was putting in my body, but it also taught me several important life skills. The one that stuck out the most was being content with your progress. While I did not expect to get washboard abs in the first couple of weeks, I definitely set some very loft goals at the start of the semester. Those goals were fine to have, but my professor encouraged smaller and obtainable goals leading up those more lofty goals.
At the end of the course, I did not feel more comfortable with the Physical Activity Center, but also with myself. The course is designed to cover a lot of different material that the student won’t stick with everything the course presents, but students take what fits with their lifestyles and allow their overall wellness to grow and allows them to be better Furman students.