The aroma of homemade snacks and fruit floated in the lobby of the Hamel Recreation Center on Thursday, March 30, as the Nutrition Expo, put on by Health Services and Nourish UNH, featured a theme of, “Put Your Best Fork Forward.”
“Its been a lot of work, but really fun….We actually started working on this last semester. We reach out to different vendors, student orgs and businesses that are local that have promotion for health and wellness,” said junior nutrition dietetics major and Nourish UNH member Emily Bukovich.
Some of the vendors, besides student organizations and UNH Dining, included Laney & Lu Cafe, Wildcat Fitness and a smoothie bar. Bukovich said the purpose of the fair was to promote health and wellness education.
According to Bukovich, this is the fourth occurrence of the annual expo and the organizers wanted to make the day a celebration of nutrition and health, as well as to highlight that March is National Nutrition Month.
“We wanted to have a place where students could go to learn more about health and wellness. Last year, we had 300 students that came. From the looks of it right now, we are probably going to exceed that. So, it’s been a great success so far,” Bukovich said.
The expo had plenty to attract students, ranging from snacks provided from the clubs in attendance, to informative posters about different food issues and advice.
Bukovich also spoke on the “What’s Cooking Wednesday?” program that Health Services puts on every Wednesday in the Hamel Rec. Center.
“It’s a cooking class at the brand new demo kitchen here at Hamel Rec,” she said. “One of the things we made is our white bean avocado humus. We also made our no-bake cereal bars,”
Also featured at the expo was a raffle, and in order to be entered, visitors had to visit at least five tables and have a form stamped.
The expo was held in one of the basketball courts, right beside the lobby—a spot the organizers reserved months ago.
“We feel like this is a prime location. People are coming in and out of workouts and class if they hear about it. Our whole team worked so hard on this so our hard work is paying off,” Bukovich said.
Nourish UNH has a small team right now, but they’re currently recruiting future volunteers through Health Services. These new members will be able to help plan next year’s expo: something well worth looking forward to.
