Drop Some Pounds With COREiculum
Getting in shape while away at college has gotten a lot easier for students, thanks to the University’s COREiculum program.
Beginning in January 2011, COREiculum is a fitness and nutrition plan designed by college students for college students. The two DVD set, equipped with resistance bands and a detailed nutrition plan helps students combat the notion of the Freshmen 15. The program was designed so that it can be performed in student’s dorm rooms and takes a minimum of 30 minutes to complete.
Andy Stern, a grad student and developer of COREiculum came up with the idea of implementing this fitness program on campus.
“I was dissatisfied by the 90- day fitness program,” said Stern, “It wasn’t because of lack of dedication, but it wasn’t tailoring my lifestyle.”
The idea was taken to Professor John Buzza, who presented it to his Entrepreneur class, who voted on it, and then made it happen.
With roughly 30 students, the class is broken up into departments that go into starting the business: marketing advertising, sales, research and development, information technology, filming of campus, publicity department, legal counsel, production department, packaging and design.
The members on the Executive Board include junior Alissa Catalano who is the Head of Packaging, senior Megan Rice in the marketing department, and senior Katherine Lyons is the producer. Also on the executive board is Christian Klein, Sarah Oseroff, Josh Silva and Billy Soletti.
COREiculum fitness will help target every muscle in the body and includes workouts such as plyometrics, shoulders and arms, boxing, chest and legs, boot camp, and abs. These workouts are geared towards helping students make a lifestyle change and is a “nutrition guide not about when to eat but how to eat,” as Stern puts it.
“It’s not just a product that’s being sold, it’s a whole lifestyle change,” said Lyons.
In the fitness tapes, Stern is the professor, and the classmates are all Monmouth University students. The students were chosen during a three day casting call held in Wilson Hall where they were put through a rigorous session of combination workouts. It was about an eight minute preview about what the video was actually going to be like. Judges followed a grading rubric where they graded students based on presence, stamina, emotion, drive, form, attitude, and endurance. They looked at each individual’s body type and noted where the student would fit best. Production, Executive Board, and Stern were a part of the judging panel and Stern made the final decision for who was casted for the video.
Once the students were chosen, they were divided up in groups for the eight different COREses. Every video had a different amount of people in it based on setting and how difficult the routine was. The videos are always filmed on campus in different locations with real Monmouth University students. The M.A.C., Wilson Hall, and Residential Life are some of the locations.
The tryouts for the video were open to the general public and not only Monmouth University students, but mostly Monmouth students attended.
“The long term goal is I’d like to see these students become COREiculum professors for these COREses. As we grow, we continue to reach out to more students,” said Stern.
All three days of the auditions, students were welcomed to retryout if they did not make the cut at an earlier tryout.
Within the 65 students who tried out, several athletes who did make the cut were later told that they could not participate in the video for reasons dealing with the NCAA.
“In any business, you come across road blocks, and in the end of the game, we found out that we couldn’t use NCAA athletes,” said Stern.
There were no hard feelings from the athletes and only a handful were initially chosen and had to be turned away. Some COREses had to be re-casted to replace them in the video.
Some promotional tactics that the Entrepreneurship team used to launch COREiculum were flyers, tabling to give out information to the students, and using laptops so people could take their survey and sign-up.
“We are trying to use everything electronically,” said Catalano, “really utilize social media.”
COREiculum has had much success in the social media world as their “likes” on Facebook, www.facebook.com/COREiculum, soared from 100 to 300 in an hour. Also, their YouTube videos have now several hundred views and they utilize their Twitter account, @COREiculum, posting motivational quotes for their followers.
“Social media has just been awesome for this,” said Stern.
A few students in the Entrepreneurship class studied abroad as well, making their posts spread to connections they have made all over the world.
“There is a presence outside of the country,” said Lyons.
Currently, their highest rating for COREiculum is in Budapest.
When the video is complete, they will target online sales, making it available at the end of April at www.COREiculum. com.
The team has sought out sponsorships and fundraisers to help launch the project and they are working on getting COREiculum sunglasses, stickers, and t-shirts.
“I’ve lost a lot of sleep, but it’s exciting to see,” said Stern. “You talk about it and it really is awesome when it all unfolds.”
Throughout the three semesters that they have been doing the fitness program, Stern has also been teaching CORE workout classes that are free to all students. The classes are in Cedar Hall Basement on Mondays and Wednesdays at 4:00 pm, Tuesdays at 10:00 am, and Thursdays at 11:30 am. Over 100 students have participated in the free classes throughout the three semesters.
“My short term goal is to approach other campuses and universities, teach students about fitness and wellness, improving their college lifestyle, and promoting COREiculum’s first,” said Stern.
On Tuesday, April 10, COREiculum is hosting COREientation at the Draft House. From 9:00 pm to 2:00 am it is 18-years-old to enter at the Draft House on Brighton Avenue in Long Branch. The formal release party of COREiculum will be in Pollak Theatre on Monday, April 23 from 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm.
There will also be the One Day Event in the Quad on Thursday, April 26 from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm (rain date: Friday, April 27) where there will be activities.
“Special thanks to Residential Life and Student Services for being supportive of COREiculum since day one,” said Stern.
The DVD package comes with two fitness DVDs, a nutrition guide, a fitness guide, and a free workout resistance band.
For questions about COREiculum, workouts, eating habits, or improving lifestyle, email coreiculum@ gmail.com.
PHOTO COURTESY of Sarah Oseroff
