Campus Recreation Alumni Newsletter

July 2018

Campus Recreation Alumni Newsletter

Campus Recreation

The Campus Recreation team provides daily opportunities to make a difference in the lives of Univeisty of Houston students and community.

Mission Campus Recreation provides the UH community an inclusive environment that cultivates the development of life skills through engaging and meaningful recreation programs, facilities and service.

Vision UH Campus Recreation aspires to create a culture of:

INTENTIONALITY by creating experiential learning opportunities that meet the needs of the diverse UH community.

ENGAGEMENT by providing opportunities for involvement through the utilization of extraordinary facilities, programs, and services.

STUDENT SUCCESS by creating a student driven department with professional leadership.

Strengthening the Pride

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Grant Funding

U

niversity of Houston Campus Recreation Center was was awarded grant money by the USA Swimming Foundation in 2018 to fund the “Make A Splash” initiative as one of the top 100 aquatic programs in the nation. The awarded money has been allocated towards UH, Campus Recreation’s continued efforts to provide free or reduced cost swim lessons.

The USA Swimming Foundation awarded a total of $436,515 to programs across the country that will provide swim lessons to an estimated 16,000 children. “We are thrilled to be chosen for this grant,” Assistant Director of Aquatics Program & Safety Rodney Rodgers said, “The Make A Splash grant that our department receives is being pumped straight back into our Third Ward community by providing the opportunity for 60 children to learn the skills necessary to swim, a life-saving skill.

“ The Make A Splash grant that our department receives is being pumped straight back into our Third Ward community by providing the opportunity for 60 children to learn the skills necessary to swim, a life-saving skill. ”

“Also the Make a Splash grant helps create a bridge between UH and Third Ward community and continue to pass our passion for teaching kids how to swim onto the younger generation in our community.”

The University of Houston Learn to Swim program has been serving children in the community for 15 years and typically has about 100 participants each year. The introduction of this grant has created an additional 60 spots and increased lesson opportunities to individuals who may not have the means to otherwise learn to swim.

Campus Recreation has offered the American Red Cross Learn to Swim program to teach children the valuable life skill of swimming and has expanded the reach to adults too through the years. Swimming is not only an excellent exercise, but knowing how to swim and be safe around the water can potentially save a child’s life.

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Rec Connection

The University of Houston, Department of Campus Recreation received the honor of being named a Top Training Provider by the American Red Cross for the second year in a row.

On March 20, 2018, Campus Recreation was awarded one of the top 10 training providers for the South and Central Area in Texas, which is a region that extends from the Houston area to El Paso and down to the border. The Red Cross gives this award to institutions that provide its instructional programs to over 1,000 people. This year, Campus Recreation provided training for lifeguarding, swimming, and First Aid/CPR/AED to approximately 1,100 unique individuals.

AMERICAN RED CROSS HONORS CAMPUS RECREATION Strengthening the Pride

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4

Rec Connection

Our Sport Clubs compete at

Campus Recreation Sport Club’s Roarin Raas Bollywood dance team has done extraordinarily well at competitions this year. They received third place at their first competition, second place at their second competition, and first place at their third competition, earning them enough bid points to make it to nationals. The team of 20 attended the Raas All Stars: National Championship competition in Dallas, TX this year, where they won fourth place!

“We were really inspired by all the other teams in the circuit,” says the club’s captian, Rohini Kambhampati, Pscychology major. “We received so much encouragement from everyone! We can’t wait for the upcoming year!”

The UH Coog Club Gymnastics team represented the University of Houston at the National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnastic Clubs on April 12 - 14 in Fort Worth, TX. They ranked 8th place in the Women’s Artistic Combined Open Division, (beating UT Austin, which took 9th place). Christina Giraldo, the club Vice President, stated that the experience was “absolutely incredible” and “as a team we were able to persevere and come out bigger and stronger, and be officially ranked”.

Strengthening the Pride

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Our commitment to

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Rec Connection

FUNCTIONAL FITNESS UNITS Campus Recreation partners with UH ROTC to replace the outdoor fitness equipment adjacent to the CRWC. Our fit trail emphasizes the best part of the outdoors to help promote a better well-being while giving you the ideal environment to work your entire body. This trail provides three different concrete platforms (upper body, core, lower body) with stateof-the-art equipment that is built to take a beating. There are 12 different stations that allow you to train every muscle group in the body. These units also incorporate a strong social component to promote community building as well as mental health, muscular strength, endurance, and cardiorespiratory fitness all while having fun in the sun.

The outdoor fit trail is located behind the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center. The new functional fitness units are spaced out around a 1/3 mile gravel track.

Strengthening the Pride

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Come back where you belong

We offer alumni memberships because we care.

Our commitment to provide opportunities for students to enagage in meaningful programs doesn’t stop when you graduate. We want the same mental and physical benefits for you as before so we provide two different alumni membership options: Pre-pay or Recurring. To sign up for a membership you can stop by the Welcome Desk – Member Services, you will need to present your Alumni Association Card and ID. Pre-paid memberships can be purchased in annual and summer terms.

Recurring memberships are annual contracts with recurring monthly payments.

Our alumni membership includes access to the indoor climbing wall, natatorium, group fitness classes, basketball, racquetball, squash, multi-activity court and much more!

UH Alumni are eligible to purchase one reloadable CRWC parking permit for $10 at the Welcome Desk – Member Services. This parking permit can be used in the Welcome Center Parking garage 3rd and 4th floors. The parking rate is $1 per hour. You can reload your parking permit at the Welcome

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Rec Connection

Primary

Primary +1

Family Rate

Annual Rate Pre-pay

$399

$723

$900

Annual Monthly

33.25

60.25

98

Month to Month Pre-pay

80

145

190

Summer Pre-pay *

200

360

874

*June 1 - first day of class

Strengthening the Pride

Share your story

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Rec Connection

JUDITH CHAPMAN Video and Graphic Designer | Marketing Assistant Graduated 2014 Judith’s time at the Rec was spent forming lasting friendships and developing marketing skills. Since graduating, she has been working for Hudson Energy as a Marketing Coordinator.

She is happily married, adopted her intelligent dog, Molly, and purchased a house. Now 7 months pregnant, Judith is expecting her first baby to be born in September. Judith was driven to live the dream from the start but mentions Campus Recreation as a key starting point to her success.

MICHAEL CONLIN Lifeguard Michael’s favorite aspect of working as a lifeguard at the Rec was the fun people he worked with, especially the staff in-services. Since graduating, he’s traveled the country as an engineer. His future plans are to move to Colorado or North Carolina.

MELANIE CARDENAS Group Fitness Instructor | Building Supervisor Graduated May 2018 Melanie’s favorite Rec memory was volunteering at the first TexFit that the Rec hosted in Spring 2014, when she first joined the Campus Rec family as a Group Fitness Instructor.

Over 150 Group Fitness Instructors attended the TexFit conference, and Melanie had the opportunity to learn from them on how to teach an efficient group fitness class. Since graduating, Melanie has worked under a research professor at the Education Building as an assistant coordinator of recruitment and exercise. She teaches fitness classes to over 50 children between the ages of nine and fourteen. Next year, she will start a Ph.D program for Higher Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the UH graduate school.

Strengthening the Pride

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BRIANNA COX Building Supervisor Working in the Rec’s Haunted House is former Building Supervisor Brianna Cox’s favorite memory of the Rec. Since graduating, she has worked as an Auto Claims Adjuster with Progressive Insurance. She made not only memories at the Rec, but a lifelong bond with her now amazing fiancé whom she met while working a shift at the CRWC-Welcome Desk in the summer of 2013.

KEVIN DEMEN Welcome Desk Assistant Kevin’s favorite activity while he worked at the Rec’s Welcome Desk was competing in Intramural Sports Basketball. Since graduation, he’s been teaching high school English and he will begin his 4th year this fall.

JOSHUA GILES Intramural Supervisor Graduated May 2014 The NIRSA invitationals, especially regional flag football tournaments, were Joshua’s most beloved experiences from working at the Rec. He enjoyed the free vacations, awesome paychecks, ability to get direct feedback from judges, and the social events afterward. After graduating from UH, he moved to New York to obtain his MBA, using his Rec experience to land a job as a Graduate Assistant in the Athletics Department.

After that, he returned to Houston and spent 2 years running his own consulting firm. He now leads a construction equipment yard for one of his former clients and has been officiating high school athletics for 2 years as well.

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Rec Connection

MARISSA GONZALEZ Social Media Strategist Graduated May 2018 As the Rec’s Social Media Strategist, Marissa’s favorite campaigns to create and implement were the “Love Yourself” Valentine’s Day display and the “I’m Here To” campaign which spotlights active Rec users. Through the Rec, she developed a love for sharing people’s stories, which she carries with her into her new job managing multiple client social media accounts for an advertising agency. She looks forward to hard work and lots of travel, and she is excited to explore this beautiful planet.

MICHAEL JIN Personal Trainer Graduated May 2018 Michael’s most memorable moment at the Rec was in his freshman year when he beat his personal record on barbell lifts. Throughout his time working as a personal trainer, he enjoyed watching his friends, clients, and himself grow mentally and physically. He will compete in Bench Press Nationals in September 2018 and Raw Nationals in October 2018 in Powerlifting. He also has a high likelihood of making the Team USA World Bench Press team to compete in Tokyo, May of 2019 at the World Bench Press Championships.

Beyond competing, he has recently accepted the graduate assistantship for fitness at the Rec.

EVAN KINAT Fitness Intern Evan’s favorite moments were being entrusted with so much responsibility within the Campus Recreation’s Fitness area.

From floor layout redesign to hosting TexFit, hiring, training, and working with students, to being honored as the Campus Rec Employee of the Year, it was his goal to leave a big mark on the Rec as the Rec left a mark on him. Since graduating, he began teaching and he is now living his dream of being a coach and a father to his 4-year-old son. Kevin’s “adulting” will be complete when he purchases a home in a few years.

Strengthening the Pride

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LINCOLN SCOTT Welcome Desk Attendant | Marketing Assistant Graduated December 2015 Lincoln’s most memorable Rec moments include hosting large events like the Zumba conference since it gave him a chance to showcase UH to other Tier One universities in Texas. He now works at Mattress Firm’s headquarters (AKA “The Bedquarters”), and has been promoted from Phone Sales, to the digital marketing team, to his new position as an eCommerce Business Analyst. He spends his summers traveling the world. His most recent adventure was to Poland, and he plans to visit Israel, Jordan, and Turkey this summer.

ERICK MATA Head Lifeguard | Lifeguard Instructor | Student Leadership Council Member for Aquatics | Marketing Graduated May 2018 From the time Erick set foot on the UH campus in 2010 to his recent graduation in 2018, he worked at the Campus Rec, which he considered his second home. He connected with diverse people, learned about different cultures, and made friends from many different areas. Since graduating, he has dedicated himself to his work as a graphic designer for Bishop Advertising. In September, he plans on marrying the love of his life, whom he met in Campus Recreation Aquatics.

He has set up a Hawaiian honeymoon fund on zola.com.

CLANCY NELSON Lifeguard | Head Lifeguard | OA Trip Leader | Climbing Wall Attendant | Building Supervisor | Red Manikin Drill Team Member Graduated May 2017 Clancy’s most beloved Rec memories involve fake blood and screaming. Fortunately, it was all fake, due to creative efforts by the head lifeguards to make in-service trainings fun, and the creativity of the entire Rec Staff in creating realistic scenes for the Haunted House. After graduating, Clancy spent a year prepping for physical therapy school, and he succeeded in getting into the Doctor of Physical Therapy program at University of Texas at El Paso. His next adventure is to visit Juarez, Mexico as he can see it from the UT campus.

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Rec Connection

JULIET VICKIO OA Trip Leader | Supervisor Juliet’s fond memories of working in Outdoor Adventure include climbing wall incidents, leading backpacking trips in 80 degree and 17 degree weather, and napping in the back of the Outdoor Adventure office. She now works in IT consulting at Avanade. On the horizon for her is a fun trip to meet friends in Atlanta, GA this August.

JAQUELINNE CERVANTES Fitness Zone Supervisor Graduated December 2017 When she worked as a fitness zone supervisor, Jaquelinne loved the support her coworkers provided each other with their fitness goals. Her favorite Rec memory is when the staff had the facility all to themselves and played soccer. Since graduating, she moved to Fort Worth, TX to work as a manufacturing engineer for her dream company. Her future plans are to become more disciplined on her fitness journey and take advantage of what life throws her way.

CHRISTA COLBURN Lifeguard | Head Lifeguard | Fitness Zone Attendant Graduated August 2016 Christa worked as a lifeguard at the Rec, but her love for the water didn’t stop when she graduated. Shortly thereafter, she became an Aquatics Director in charge of 200 staff and 30 pools around Houston and currently is a pool/gym manager for a parks and recreation center. Wedding bells are in her future, as she plans to get married in October 2018.

BRENT MATULNES Lifeguard | Head Lifeguard | Swim instructor Brent’s favorite memories from his time at the Rec Center involve helping put together the Haunted Penthouse and attending the Crawfish boils. He now works as a project manager at a local traffic systems company, and he is gearing up for an exciting move to Germany.

›› Share your story!

We would love to hear from you, where you are, what you have done since graduation, and all your fun stories!

Please copy this url into your browser

bit.ly/UHCRalumni Strengthening the Pride

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Recognizing our

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Rec Connection

GINA UH Campus Recreation Employee of the Year

Student staff who have made important contributions to the Univeristy of Houston Department of Campus Recreation community were honored on April 25, 2018 at the Annual Student Staff Appreciation and Awards Night. Among one of the most prestigious awards is the Campus Recreation Employee of the Year which was awarded to Gina, a current senior majoring in Sports and Fitness at the University of Houston. This award goes to someone that demonstrates our values along with a strong sense of commitment to the department. This person has to embody the spirit of our department in all that they do, no matter how dull or tedious the task may be.

Below are a few remarks delivered by the Director, Kim Clark at the ceremony.

Gina is described as an innovative self-starter who rarely needs guidance in getting tasks completed. She is punctual and exceeds expectations. These qualities and many more have provided her the opportunity to work in multiple program areas in both entry level and supervisory positions.

Peers have said that Gina is “helpful, resourceful, and encouraging of her co-workers.�

Gina has a strong work ethic, is responsive to unique situations, and focuses on resolutions.

She is dedicated to the overall success of the department which is evident through the countless projects and committees for which she volunteers. Always eager to learn and teach, she has also taken on an additional leadership role serving as the Red Manikin Team Supervisor.

Strengthening the Pride

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Congrats to the Class of 2018!

Aquatics Aaron AJ Cervantes Hein Tony Ho Member Services Francescha Rundle Fitness Alex Charles Cedric Edwards Michael Jin Nick Dean Sundar Ramasamy Susana Sarabia Aneesha Shaju Rec Sports Usama Akram Jaylen Etheridge Adam Coleman Ayodeji Odebode Kendrick Perkins Valerie Rincones Jennifer Rodriguez Brian Swain Helena Ventura Marketing Marissa Gonzalez Ninh Truong Giovanna Jimenez Erick Mata Outdoor Adventure Erika Ascencio Billy Graves Pratik Dalwadi Karen Scarbrough Kelsey Gangi Operations Derek Montag Manoja Banda Sourab Ganna Carlos Valles Patrick Diez Abbas Akber Gina Vaidya Agozie Ezedinma

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Rec Connection

Semesters of Service Award This award recognizes our students who been employed for four semester.

Member Services Amahra Browne Francescha Rundle Fitness Brian Swain Rec Sports Helena Ventura Brian Swain Kendrick Perkins Marketing Marissa Gonzales Ninh Truong Outdoor Adventure Erika Ascencio Branden Barley Billy Graves James Buitran Pratik Dalwadi Karen Scarbrough Kelsey Gangi Basel Najjar Juan Egusquiza Operations Andrea Torres Rohan Jethva Sourab Ganna Ayush Srivastava

Congrats to the 2018 Graduate Assistants Fitness Ana Malagon Rec Sports Trent Graham

See more pictures from the evening here

Employee of the Year

Productive Positivity Award

Aquatics

James Buitran, Outdoor Adventure

Kaite Cribbs

James is known to assist the welcome desk by issuing equipment and helping the building supervisor when needed.

His peers say that he always comes in with a bright smile and attitude, and he goes out of his way to help other employees

Member Services Amahra Browne Fitness Chase Ligon

in other departments.

Everyday Initiative Award Rachel Collins, Fitness

Rec Sports

A diligent worker who is constantly, cleaning, organizing, and taking initiative, Rachel inspires her peers to work harder. She never needs a supervisor to tell her what to do, where to be,

Georgiy Makedonov

or how to help.

Marketing Marissa Gonzalez Outdoor Adventure Branden Barley

Outstanding Customer Service Award Thinh Duong, Aquatics Thinh never shies away from a difficult situation. When explaining rules to patrons, he is consistent, direct, respectful, and clear. He brings a positive attitude and friendliness to all of his interactions with patrons that makes them feel welcome and at home in the Rec Center.

Operations

Outstanding Student Leadership Award

Henry Zhang

June Windsor, Aquatics June makes it her duty to make sure everyone in her program area is prepared, knows their responsibilities, and is representing the Rec in the best way possible. She is an amazing leader who is responsible and informed.

Strengthening the Pride

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TAKING A DEEPER DIVE INTO MEAL FREQUENCY

by JOSEPH SECREST, M.S. ACSMEP-C, NSCA-CSCS

1971

1989

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Rec Connection

Finkelstein and Fryer found no differences in weight loss, females eating 6 times per day or 3 meals per day, same amount of calories.

Jenkins and collegues compared males eating 17 snacks or 3 meals per day “nibbling diet”.

1997

Bellisle, McDevitt, and Prentice conducted a review of all previous studies on meal frequency, and concluded, “. . . with the exception of a single study, there is no evidence that weight loss on hypoenergetic (low calorie) regimens is altered by meal frequency.” In other words, if eating a low calorie diet, meal frequency did not matter.

2014

Piya and collegues compared 2 versus 5 isocaloric, high fat (50%) meals per day, over 2 days, in 24 lean and obese women. There was no difference in 24 hour energy expenditure, thus no “boost” in metabolism. They also found that eating these high fat meals, so frequently, might produce an increased inflammatory and metabolic disease risk.

S

o much of today’s society is focused on being smarter than your own body. How can you outwit your gut or trick your body into doing something more favorable. Everything from over-chewing your food to feeding times to total restriction of food groups. I came across some unreliable sources that were titled “nibbler or a gorger”?

Online reports are popping up, again, regarding a new study that challenges the notion that frequent, small meals is better than less, larger meals per day for weight loss. For example, Women’s Health reposted a recent Time.com article, which states, “don’t believe the hype, dieters. Eating five meals a day won’t make you any skinnier, a new study shows.”Actually, this new study is nothing new, but there is a catch, that most people completely miss this myth.

Traditionally, most people think that eating several, smaller meals per day will boost your metabolism, and to a degree it is true. During and right after eating we get a slight boost in metabolism, called the ‘thermic effect of food’ (TEF). In other words, TEF is the energy expenditure (measured in calories) that we expend while digesting, absorbing, and distributing nutrients of a meal. The TEF makes up about 10% of our total daily caloric expenditure, so the thought is, “eat more often, expend more calories”.

In the early 1960’s, Dr. Gwinup and colleagues noticed that many animals ingest small portions of food through a day (i.e. nibblers), while man tends to eat large meals, infrequently (i.e. gorgers). In addition, research up to that point had suggested that if a rat, a nibbler, is trained to eat their diet in one or two meals per day – obesity, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol developed.

BEHAVIOR!

1998 McGuire and colleagues found that weight-loss maintainers used more dietary behavioral strategies, such as substituting low fat for high fat foods, than did weight regainers.

2005 Forslund and colleagues compared 4,529 obese, middle-aged persons with 1,092 normal weight persons, and found that obese subjects were more frequent snackers of unhealthy, fatty foods, which resulted in positive energy intake (eating too many calories).

2014 And even the Piya and colleagues study concluded that self-monitoring food intake was what mattered most for weight loss. Not sure why all the online articles leave this out!?

So, the take-home message is that meal frequency can lead to both weight loss or weight gain. We must use what works for us. If eating 7-8 times a day allows you to eat healthfully, then eat 7-8 times per day. If you eat more healthfully using 3 meals a day, then eat 3 meals a day.

The keys are to: 1. Pay attention, on purpose, to what you eat = selfmonitor 2. Eat with self-control 3. Choose healthy options, thus controlling the quantity with the quality of the food

* Remember, you would have to eat 21.5 cups of baby spinach to equal 1 Twinkie cake! Calories are the same (approximately 150 Calories), but are drastically different in their nutritional value plus fiber.

1997 Klem and colleagues found in a landmark study that, on average, 784 women and men who successfully lost and maintained at least 30 pounds for 5 years, had average of 5 eating episodes per day!

Bellisle, McDevitt, and Prentice review, concluded that the effects of meal pattern on our body weight is most likely a result of urging us into eating too much (weight gain) or a healthy amount (weight loss).

Strengthening the Pride

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Kim Clark Director Phone: 713.743.5478 Email: kdclark@central.uh.edu Rachel O’Mara Associate Director, Operations

Andrew Jones

Phone: 713.743.9502

Assistant Director, Fitness

Email: romara@uh.edu

Email: aljones31@central.uh.edu

Maria Victoria Avila

Joseph Secrest

Assistant Director, Marketing and Communications

Coordinator, Fitness

Phone: 713.743.9501

Phone: 713.743.8469

Email: mavila2@uh.edu

Email: jrsecres@central.uh.edu

Jean Sanders

Jonathan Janis

Assistant Director, Member Services

Assistant Director, Rec Sports

Phone: 713.743.0397

Email: jjanis@central.uh.edu

Email: bjsanders@uh.edu Chelsea Watson Daniel Belcher

Coordinator, Recreational Sports and Family Programs

Assistant Director, Operations

Phone: 713.743.6425

Phone: 713.743.8468

Email: cgwatson@central.uh.edu

Email: dkbelche@central.uh.edu Claudia Cooper Kyle Pasake

Instructional Assistant, Rec Sports and Family Programs

Coordinator, Operations

Phone: 713.743.5576

Email: kwpasake@central.uh.edu

Email: cecoope2@central.uh.edu

Kelly Martin

Riley Spenningsby

Assistant Director, Outdoor Adventure

Instructional Assistant, Operations

Phone: 713.743.9305

Phone: 713.743.7709

Email: kamartin4@uh.edu

Email: rspennin@central.uh.edu

Jaime Jones

Michael Jin

Aquatic Program Director

Instructional Assisatnt, Fitness

Phone: 713.743.6836

Phone: 713.743.1621

Email: jjones45@uh.edu

Email: mojin@uh.edu

Rodney Rodgers Assistant Director, Aquatic Programs & Safety Phone: 713.743.5747 Email: rrodgers@central.uh.edu Cara Green Assistant Director, Aquatic Operations Phone: 713.743.7614 Email: cagreen6@uh.edu

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Rec Connection

uh.edu/recreation

UHRecreation

UHREC