It can be said that it is hard to stay healthy while going to college. College usually takes up a lot of students’ time and on top of that, some of them work.
“We are trying to promote health. I know a lot of college students are preoccupied with school and work, but health is a big part of life. Having a healthy lifestyle will help you succeed in all your other areas of life. We want to give people information about health topics…we try to show how easy it is to stay healthy,” President Irene Isaza said about the goals of the Student Health Advisory Club, or SHAC.
It is not always easy to find the best and right way to stay healthy; sometimes it’s difficult to know who to talk to when you have health questions. This is where SHAC comes into play. SHAC is made up of seven SLCC students who take health seriously – and want to help others stay healthy.
“We do tabling every Thursday,” Isaza said.
Tabling is something the group does to help students be aware of the club and to make health facts available. The club picks a topic for the week and then they collect information about the decided subject. They then get the facts checked by Health and Wellness Center Director Lorri Castro-Aguilera and then share their findings with students.
SHAC does their tabling in the Student Center and the Technology Building. Tomorrow’s tabling will be on pharmacology and will be held in the Technology Building. They will help students learn how to read prescriptions – as it can be confusing to understand many medicines that are prescribed to people. The week after pharmacology, SHAC will have a tabling where students can sign up to either donate or volunteer for the blood drive they will be hosting April 18.
Other tabling topics that are coming up are tattoo and piercing information and sleep hygiene.
If students have health questions unrelated to the tabling topic of the week, they are still welcome to ask any member of SHAC. Isaza said that whenever a student sees a member of SHAC walking around in their club t-shirt, they can ask any health questions they may have about whichever health topic they please.
SHAC has meetings the first and third Thursday of every month in the Health and Wellness Center’s conference room. The last two meeting of the semester will be April 7 and 21. Students interested in joining are encouraged to go to club meetings and get a feel for what the club is like. There is a small cost to join and all members will receive a SHAC shirt. The club does not meet during the summer, only fall and spring semesters.
The club both hosts and participates in many school activities. They do “Mocktails” for many school activities like Mardi Gras and they have a couple more events planned before the spring semester ends. “Mocktails” are non-alcoholic cocktails that they mix for students while trying to inform students that there are other ways to have fun besides drinking alcohol.
“Anyone who has a passion for health or wants to learn more about health and how they can promote a healthy lifestyle for themselves [are ideal members for the club],” Isaza said.
She added that it is a great way to gain leadership skills. Participation is required of all club members. Isaza said that you do not have to make every club meeting, but do the best you can to make as many meetings as possible and participate in the many events that SHAC is involved with.
Most feedback the club gets is mostly from students, and the only negative feedback Isaza could think of was, “People don’t know who we are so we want to get more out there.”
She also added that they just started getting their facts checked by the Health and Wellness Center.
“We do teach a lot of students about things that they had not known about,” Isaza added about some of the positive feedback the club has received.
For more information about SHAC, visit slccshac.tumblr.com/.