Bemidji State University has been ranked among the nation’s most-supportive campuses for physical fitness by the National Collegiate Fitness Index. The index, which surveyed 107 college and university campuses to measure physical and programmatic resources promoting active living and healthy lifestyles, ranked BSU fifth among responding small public universities.

The index judged schools on three general criteria: transportation, recreation infrastructure and recreation and educational policies and services. Within those three criteria, the survey measured 28 different factors including the number of cardio/weight rooms, tanning rooms, group fitness classes per week, availability of various courts, swimming pools, sport fields and rock climbing walls.

The Bemidji State Gillett Recreation-Fitness Center (GRC) on campus is available for use by students as well as faculty, staff, alumni and community communities members who have a paid membership. Students that meet the minimum enrollment requirements have free access to the facilities. Located adjacent to the residence halls on campus, the GRC includes; four activity courts, a six-lane, 200 meter indoor track, both free and fixed weight rooms, five racquetball courts, a state-of-the-art climbing wall, a dance studio, numerous types of cardiovascular equipment, and a six lane 25-yard pool.

A variety of fitness classes are offered at the GRC for all levels at different times throughout the week during both fall and spring semesters as well as the spring and summer breaks. Group fitness classes entitles you to attend any fitness class during the semester.

In addition, BSU is launching a campus-wide student wellness initiative, The Best You @ BSU, beginning this fall which will align a student’s college experience with six dimensions of personal wellness. The initiative combines programming and other activities currently being done by the Gillett Wellness Center, the Department of Housing and Residence Life, the Hobson Memorial Union, the Student Center for Health and Counseling and other student services and refocuses them around six dimensions of wellness – career, environmental, emotional, physical, spiritual and social.

The National Collegiate Fitness Index, available from the American Kinesiology Association, noted that surveyed schools had great diversity in the fitness levels of their respective campus communities. Universities ranked at the top of each of the survey’s three categories – small public universities, a 29-school group which included Bemidji State; private universities; and large public universities. The top-ranked institution in each category, and others near the top of the index’s rankings, were found to have numerous supporting active living and relatively few challenges hindering it, the report said.

Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pa., finished first in the large public university category and scored highest in walk score, group fitness classes per week and physical education class sections per semester. Lyndon State College in Lyndonville, Vt., led the small public university category and scored highest in physical education class sections per semester, walk score and tennis courts. Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tenn., led the index among private institutions and scored highest in physical education class sections per semester, group fitness classes per week, golf holes and outdoor recreation trips per year.

“Campuses are to be commended for acknowledging the importance of physical activity to campus life,” the report said.

Contact

• Kierstin Hoven, director of campus recreation, Bemidji State University; khoven@bemidjistate.edu

Links

• American Kinesiology Association: “National Collegiate Fitness Index Report-2016”
• Full Report (9.7 MB PDF)
• American Fitness Index (AFI) program

About National Collegiate Fitness Index
The National Collegiate Fitness Index (NCFI) is a collaborative project between the National Academy of Kinesiology, the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Kinesiology Association. The purpose of the index is to rank American college and university campuses for their physical and programmatic resources that promote active living and healthy lifestyles. The index is modeled after the American Fitness Index, which assesses the health and wellness of the 50 largest cities in the United States.

Bemidji State University, located in northern Minnesota’s lake district, occupies a wooded campus along the shore of Lake Bemidji. Enrolling nearly 5,000 students, Bemidji State offers more than 80 undergraduate majors and 11 graduate degrees encompassing arts, sciences and select professional programs. BSU is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system and has a faculty and staff of more than 550. University signature themes include environmental stewardship, civic engagement and global and multi-cultural understanding.