On Sept. 1, the Elizabethtown College Bowers Center for Sports, Fitness and Well-being and Health Promotion Office had its first demonstration kitchen event of the semester. This event was offered as a drop-in to introduce students to the demo kitchen, have a little fun and promote future events in the space.

The event was hosted by Assistant Director of Health Promotion at the College Joni Eisenhauer. After arriving at the event, attendees were given paper cups filled with fresh cut vegetables and veggie dip along with a second set of cups filled with fruit kabobs and a chocolate Greek yogurt fruit dip. Eisenhauer was in the process of putting together these cups when attendees started to arrive. Nearby, recipes for both cups were available on the counter along with two different schedules, one for Health Promotion Office events and another for Student Wellness Advocacy events.

While enjoying the snacks, Eisenhauer was kind enough to take the time to participate in an interview for us, to help us gain a better understanding of what the Health Promotion office does, her background and role and more about the demo kitchen itself.

Part of the Office of Campus Recreation and Well-being, the Health Promotion office is located inside the Bowers Center and provides health-related educational programming and resources to the Etown community. Events are meant to foster the physical, emotional and psychological well-being and development of students to support their personal, social and academic success. The Health Promotion office is committed to meeting the needs of all individuals of diverse racial, ethnic and national backgrounds, gender, sexual/affectional orientations, mental and physical abilities, religious/spiritual beliefs and socioeconomic backgrounds as well as other types of diversity.

The Health Promotion Office operates the demo kitchen and The Well, located upstairs in the Bowers Center. According to Eisenhauer, events around campus give her an opportunity to bring health and wellness to students and “talk about the dimensions of wellness, talk to students about stress reduction [and] a whole host of wellness-type topics.”

With over 15 years of experience in the public health space and part of the Etown staff since 2017, Eisenhauer acts as the chef for the majority of the events held in the demo kitchen. She earned her B.S. in Health Science and Sociology from Lebanon Valley College and recently earned her M.S. degree in Nutrition and Integrative Health from Maryland University of Integrative Health. She explains, “You will see a lot of events coming out of my office, in the demonstration kitchen, because this is where my graduate degree is in.” Eisenhauer is joined by a student wellness advocate who does their own program, so you may see them behind the counter as well.

On campus, the demo kitchen is a great place for the campus community to develop cooking skills, explore nutrition topics and discuss the many aspects of food and wellness. Beyond the scheduled programming, the kitchen is also available for on-campus courses, clubs and/or organizations to reserve. The next demo kitchen event is Sept. 13 at 6 p.m. Mark your calendar and stop by to check it out and learn something new.

Check out the website for more kitchen events and student wellness information at https://www.etown.edu/bowers-center/events.aspx.