As the temperatures become cooler, staying active outside becomes much more difficult. Along with the brisk wind, there is less and less sunlight during the day. Despite this, the school has many resources to allow students to help their physical and mental health.
When speaking to Outreach and Prevention Coordinator Josh Carlson in the Center for Mental Health and Well-being, he said, “Routines tend to change over the winter, so they [students] have to be intentional about their activities.” The Center for Mental Health and Well-being offers services to students to help support their mental health. The center and its services are included in the Experience Tech fee, which is added to every student’s tuition.
One of the main services they offer is therapy sessions. These can be in either a group or individual setting, depending on the specific students’ needs. If the student cannot make it in person or needs help immediately, they can use Mantra Health, Michigan Tech’s telehealth system. The center also offers full-spectrum lights for students to rent to try out. These lights offer a way for students to get their natural daylight in the morning, so they have an easier time waking up.
Michigan Tech offers many different indoor and outdoor activities, even in the colder months. For indoor activities, students can participate in many different intramural sports that are team-based, individual, or dual for the Spring semester. Team sports include basketball, volleyball, bowling, innertube water polo, soccer-tennis, and dodgeball. For individual and dual sports, students play table tennis, billiards singles, badminton, tennis doubles, racquetball ladder, and pickleball. Through the Experience Tech fee, students have many indoor facilities available to them, which include the Gates Tennis Center, the SDC lap pool and dive tank, the SDC fitness center, and the SDC indoor track.
For outdoor activities, there are many ways for students to stay active, even with all of the snow. Students have three main activities they can participate in through Michigan Tech, which are the Mont Ripley Ski Hill, the Tech Trails, and the IRHC Broomball teams. Both Mont Ripley and the Tech Trails can be accessed using the university’s shuttle system. When visiting Mont Ripley, not only do they offer two chairlifts from easy to extra-hard hills and an indoor lodge to warm up, but also a tubing hill. The Tech Trails also offer many activities that students can participate in, such as snowshoeing or cross-country skiing.
Once it starts to get colder on-campus, the Broomball office moves into its place for the rest of the winter. This sport is not available through the Experience Tech fee, so there is a small fee for each member to play. Teams can be formed by any group of students willing to make the commitment, including a student organization, fraternity or sorority, residence hall community, or even just a group of friends. Students can also access local ice rinks around town to skate or practice broomball skills, depending on the rink rules. Ice rinks can be found around Houghton and Dodgeville, where hours will be posted at the rink location.
“[Students] are more willing to do something if they have it prepared ahead of time,” Carlson said in reference to a skill called body-doubling. Students can practice the skill by asking a friend or a roommate to sit by them while they complete a task. This way, the friend or roommate can help hold the student accountable. This method allows students to not only complete tasks that they have been putting off, but also gives students the ability to try something new.
To learn more about getting active during the winter, visit the Michigan Tech Recreation page. To learn more about mental health services on-campus, visit the Center of Student Mental Health and Well-being in the Admin building.
