Gathering in the heart of the Union Building Tuesday, students learned about a variety of health topics at the Weber State Health Fair.

With bowls of candy, interactive games, informative pamphlets and free swag, the goal of the Health Fair was to promote overall health awareness on campus.

According to the director of Counseling and Psychological Services Center, Dianna Abel, research has shown that the early 20s is the time of life where the most health help is needed.

“We know that a lot of students aren’t aware that there are a lot of services available on campus, especially services related to health,” she said. “So fairs like this help raise awareness to all the services available.”

Running from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., the Health Fair drew in students from all over campus.

From stress relief to immunization to proper back posture, an array of nearly 20 booths lined the atrium, each geared towards informing students about how health issues can impact people in more ways than one.

Senior in Health Promotion, Clarissa Renda, a student leader for the healthy relationships booth, said she hoped students were able to walk away having learned at least one new thing about a healthier lifestyle.

“We hope students will think about something they’ve already learned and to think about some other skills that they could learn at the fair,” she said. “We also want our booths to be very versatile, so that the people who are running to class can still get involved.”

Other booths featured the Women’s Center, the LGBT Resource Center, the Student Wellness Center, the Center for Diversity and Unity, the Stress Relief Center and many more.

The WSU Health Promotion Program, along with other co-sponsors, hosted and designed the event to help students get more involved with health promotion, according to program director and assistant health promotion professor Laura Santurri.

Santurri, who is taking the lead in running this year’s Health Fair, said she wanted this year’s range of topics to be more diverse, but still pertinent to the Weber State community.

“As the director, I decided to broaden the scope of the fair so that students could choose a topic that they were passionate about, but also pick topics that were relevant to the population here at Weber State,” she said.

Following the theme of health promotion, various activities and games were also set out to lure students to booths. From stress-detector dots to a free-write wisdom board, students were given the chance to get interactive.

Attendees also had the opportunity to fill out surveys and compete for prizes by going to at least three booths of their choice.

The WSU Health Promotion Program started raising awareness for health issues in the spring of last year. The fair is still student-designed and student-run.

Students who participate and run a booth at the Health Fair satisfy the service-learning component as part of the Health 4150 upper division course, according to the Health Promotion Website.

Santurri said the Health Fair is a great way to inform the campus community while giving her students the experience they need for the real-world setting.

“For the 4150 students, the goal is to provide them with structured, hands-on experience in the skill set they wish to pursue when they go out to the professional setting,” said Santurri. “We think it’s kind of a win-win situation for everybody involved.”

Santurri said the event has grown since last year and she sees no sign of it slowing down. They plan to host a Health Fair on campus every spring semester.

“We hope to address important health topics that are relevant to Weber State students, faculty and staff every Health Fair,” said Santurri. “I think it’s an overall good experience for everybody, and it’s one of my favorite projects to do on campus.”

Renda agreed that she enjoys participating in the Health Fair to not only get real world experience, but to also inform students of the topic she’s passionate about.

“You have to be really creative when trying to teach people about health issues,” she said. “I just know that I want to be happy and healthy and I want other students to do the same.”