By: Abbey Bowen

Last week, the public relations team started looking for new candidates to replace me, as I will be graduating in a week.

During the interviews, we asked “What does Warhawk Fitness mean to you?”

I would like to take a moment to reflect on my answer to that question.

I started working at University Fitness during my sophomore year. I applied for the position on a whim, and didn’t think I had any chance of getting it.

To my surprise, I was selected out of a pool over 100 other people. My membership in the highly-desired Warhawk Fitness family soon began.

Working at the gym gave me so much more than an hourly wage.

Socially, I was immediately welcomed and assimilated into the group. I made instant friends with the other supervisors I worked with.

Physically, on the other hand, working for Warhawk Fitness kept me motivated to be the healthiest version of myself.

I had always tried to stay fit and eat a healthy diet, but working around other individuals who ate, slept and breathed fitness truly inspired me.

This aspect of my new, healthy life gave me the desire to work as part of the public relations team. I wanted to give others access to the information I had learned while working at the UF.

More than anything, Warhawk Fitness kept me accountable throughout college. Not only did my colleagues motivate me to be healthier, but the relationships I formed made me a better “me” overall.

As I sit here reflecting on my time working for Warhawk Fitness, three words come to mind when I think of what being a member of the Warhawk Fitness family means to me: inspiration, motivation and friendship.

The friends I made working as a fitness supervisor and member of the PR team inspire me, and will continue to inspire me, to continually seek a healthier lifestyle. They have motivated me to do so through their own example and actions. They’re supervisors and promoters for a reason; they know what they’re talking about! Some of the most dedicated people I have ever met work for Warhawk Fitness.

Above all, my fellow employees have provided me with unconditional friendship. Some day when I’m old and grey, I know I will always chuckle while thinking back to the UF’s Christmas parties, which were properly named “Snowballs and Booty Calls,” and the time we ran in the freezing cold “nearly naked” to raise money for charity.

I would also like to thank Jen Kaina for everything she’s given me. She first hired me to be a fitness supervisor and later as a member of the PR team, two opportunities I would’ve never had access to without her. She is one of the most hardworking and caring people I will ever have the pleasure of working for. I also know it is thanks to her and her talent for writing recommendation letters that I was accepted to attend law school at Marquette University next fall.

As I leave my Warhawk Fitness family next week, I will make the commitment to continue improving myself every day. I will also leave with warm memories of all the amazing people I have met.

Thank you all.

~Remember, you have to learn to love yourself before you can truly love someone else~
Abbey :]