Lund Center plays host to more resources for getting in shape and staying active than many students know. Among these are the offerings of exercise classes. Classes are taught by students for students in a variety of exercise areas and are free to attend.

Assistant Professor of Health and Exercise Science Stephanie Otto, who coordinates the classes, said that they offer a variety of classes depending on what the instructors feel comfortable teaching. Among these offerings are yoga, full body circuit, weight training and Pilates classes.

“Yoga classes seem to be extremely popular. There was one the other day where there wasn’t enough space in the room to have people put mats down,” Otto said.

These classes are geared toward all fitness levels, with the goal of providing a fun and convenient way for students to stay active.

“The goal for the students is to offer another opportunity to be active that is also convenient—it’s on campus and it’s free, we have the studio and the sound system and all of the equipment, so hopefully students will utilize that,” Otto said.

Otto remembers having similar classes offered when she was a student at Gustavus.

“When I was a student here they had this program and then when I came back to teach it was gone. I heard that the person who was organizing it wasn’t getting a lot of instructor interest and he didn’t really feel like he could support the instructors. When I came back it was something that I wanted to see [happen],” Otto said.

Otto, who works with the instructors to plan the classes, says that her focus is on helping the instructors.

“This experience was set up to accommodate the instructor more so than the student. [For] many of the instructors this is the first opportunity they have to lead a group exercise class,” Otto said.

Otto works with the instructors to plan out the classes and make sure they have the resources they need to lead them.

“What we do is we give the [instructors] an opportunity to lead a group exercise class. They plan the class and lead the class, which really lets them discover for themselves if it is something that they are interested in doing. And I think there is something really valuable about students leading the class for other students. I think they kind of know what each other wants and at what times to offer the classes,” Otto said.

Sophomore Vanessa Hofman attended a yoga class in Lund, and felt that having the class taught by another student provided an interesting experience.

“I’ve taken yoga classes before, but this was a little different since it was taught by a student. I really liked it though,” Hofman said.

Senior Nursing Major Stacy Miorana teaches yoga classes in Lund because she feels it is important to make exercise fun.

“I started teaching because I love to move and I love helping others enhance their health. Moving your body should be fun,” Miorana said. Miorana hopes this experience will get her “one step closer to being able to, as a retiree, teach dawn and dusk yoga classes on the beach.”

Many of the instructors are health and fitness majors, but not all of them are.

“Anybody is welcome to teach classes; it doesn’t just have to be [health and exercise science] majors. I certainly would want to encourage other people if they are interested in teaching to contact me, because really the program is driven by the teachers and if they want to teach that’s great,” Otto said.

“I’m so proud of what they do, and there are some students who don’t get paid and they just teach because they want to teach and I’m so proud of all of them.”