Glow week sets the stage for students to enjoy activities in a different light.
Photo by Alexandra Clark
During the week of Oct. 3, the Recreation Center hosted glow-in-the-dark events, free of charge for students, and included free t-shirts for the lucky 50 people who were first in line at each event.
The week kicked off with Zumba Glow on Monday night, which had a turnout of over 200 students. Fifteen minutes prior to the start of the event, the line of students looped past the equipment rental kiosk to the racquetball courts.
Arlene Howell led the Zumba class as a first-time Zumba Glow fitness instructor and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. She said she loved the energy from the students and from the glow-in-the dark aspect of the event.
“It added hype to it,” Jasiah Rodriguez, a freshman psychology major said regarding the glow atmosphere. Both Rodriguez and Ajanae Mitchell, an undeclared freshman, have attended Zumba classes before, but had yet to attend a glow event.
Mitchell said Zumba Glow was very different and she liked the different styles of dance in Howell’s choreography that allowed anybody to learn the moves and enjoy themselves.
On Tuesday night, the Recreation Center held back-to-back glow events starting with cardio kickboxing, a combination of martial arts moves and cardio to create a heart-pumping workout.
Jessica Godoy, a junior at Montclair State, led the cardio kickboxing class. Along with teaching cardio kickboxing since the fall of last year, Godoy also serves as the Group X area supervisor for the Recreation Center.
When she teaches her classes, Godoy likes to make sure people are pumped and in the mood to workout since it’s a very fast-paced class. Sometimes she asks people what they want to focus on that day, whether it’s a certain martial arts step or a part of their body they want to put emphasis on during the workout, like their core or arm strength.
“Most people do it for the workout and the martial arts moves,” Godoy said. The social interaction as an instructor is a big selling point for Godoy, who wasn’t exceptionally social until she arrived at Montclair State. Now she loves getting to interact with people every time she teaches a cardio kickboxing class, and it makes an impact on the students.
Joanna Hanaka, a junior business marketing and finance major, said cardio kickboxing is a great combination of Zumba and strength, and she enjoys the different combos Godoy puts together for each song that made the event “glowing.”
Following Cardio Kickboxing Glow was Volleyball Tournament Glow. Along with both of these events, Hamsterball Glow and Lasertag Glow, held on Wednesday and Thursday respectively, are new this year to the glow-in-the-dark atmosphere.
Two volleyball nets took up the gymnasium as participants split into teams of seven and were told to pick a name for their team. A referee was positioned at each net as each game got started, with score-keepers standing by. New teams were rotated in and out as a winner for each round was announced, letting stragglers participate.
Freshman nutrition major Stephanie Boyaci, who attended both the cardio kickboxing and volleyball events, said the free t-shirts at each event were a definite draw for her and her friends, along with the enticing aspect of it being a glow event.
