Ladies, are you doing anything this Saturday night? Are you planning on wrapping yourself in a blanket and watching all nine seasons of The Office for the tenth time in a row? Well, think again! The Barber Fitness Center is working with Drury Students for Community Wellness to host a Ladies’ Night on Saturday, April 14, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. This event is a great opportunity to familiarize yourself with the gym equipment and get in a great workout in a judgement-free environment.

Junior Jamie Mesler, president of Drury Students for Community Wellness, explained how the event got its start.

“Ladies Night was inspired by a Facebook post I saw. [A Drury student] posted about how there should be a Ladies Night only at the gym, to encourage more women to go to the gym and feel comfortable. I think that the gym can be seen as a very intimidating place because they feel either judged or ‘out of shape,’” said Mesler.

Mesler went on to explain why women are the spotlight this Saturday night.

“Women are often the minority at the gym and because of this, we wanted to offer a night where women can come and explore the gym, without any fears or anxiety holding them back. No one is going to be judging them, instead we plan on encouraging them, and making this night as easy as possible,” said Mesler.

This is a great opportunity for the women of Drury to come to the fitness center and learn, as there will be a large support team there to guide and answer questions, and Mesler is excited for people to discover what she loves most.

“We will have a personal trainer, Kim Hughes, who will go through a workout with anyone who is interested. She, along with the other event workers in yellow t-shirts, are there to support women and help answer questions about equipment, proper form, or just general gym etiquette—where the towels are, where the cleaning supplies are,” Mesler said.

Kim Hughes has been a part of the Drury community as an office assistant since the mid 1990’s, and left her office job to teach fitness classes full-time in 2014. She, too, is ready for this Saturday’s event.

“I’m really excited about the Ladies Night this weekend! It will be a great opportunity for female students to come the Barber Fitness Center during a time where there aren’t a bunch of people working out or classes going on and they can get information about how to use the various types of equipment and machines,” explained Hughes.

Everyone knows that April is a very intimidating time for college students, as many are facing quickly approaching deadlines, but Hughes and Mesler agree that a workout is just the thing to cure that pre-finals week stress.

“I know college is very stressful and if students can commit to just 30 minutes to an hour each day to work out, it will help them relieve some stress, clear their minds and give them energy, which I believe will help their performance academically,” said Hughes.

Mesler encouraged hesitant students to look at taking the time to work out in a different way than a waste of previous time.

“I know that it is hard to work out when life can get so busy, but I like to think of a workout as an hour of personal time a day. It is a time where I can zone out and listen to music and de-stress from all of my student/work responsibilities. Working out can help relieve stress and boost your energy and mood. And if anything else, just think of it as a healthy way to procrastinate, because we all procrastinate. This is just a way that is better for your body then watching Netflix,” said Mesler.

So, ladies, if you’re feeling the increasing stress of deadlines, take a couple hours this Saturday to sweat it out from 6:00 to 8:00 pm in the Barber Fitness Center.