To:$Advanced$Writing$in$the$Health$Professions$Class$

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From:$Sam$Sui$

Memorandum
Date: November 4, 2014
To: Advanced Writing in the Disciplines Class
From: Sam Sui
Subject: College Students and Physical Fitness
College students at Northeastern University spend a lot of time in the library focusing on
their studies and they spend the majority of their time either studying, working, or doing
activities that will help them with their career goals. As a result, many students fail to
find the time to exercise regularly and maintain good fitness habits. Exercising will not
only improve your health but it will lower stress levels that many college students have
during finals or midterms. Studies also show that there is a correlation between good
grades and exercising. Therefore, the purpose of this project is to educate college students
of the importance of exercise and how it specifically contributes to their lifestyle. It also
focuses on ways Northeastern students can become more active in their community.
The main method of spreading awareness of this issue is through a poster. Since most
students with poor exercise habits will be in the library or in classrooms, the best method
would be putting up poster in these areas. In Snell library, the front of the building would
not be the best area to post the information because most students spend less than a
minute entering the library to scan their Husky ID cards. The best place to put these
posters would be in the reserved classrooms on the first floor for study groups to see and
potentially decide to exercise as a group. It would also be beneficial to tape these posters
on the quiet study tables on the third and fourth floor because many students spend a
good amount of time searching for an empty table to study on. When looking for an
empty table, they will see the bright red and green colors on the flyers and it will attract
attention and curiosity. As for the classrooms, the best place would be on the classroom
doors because many students focus on the entrance and exit ways. Students tend to wait
near the entrance of the door while waiting for a class to finish or begin and they also
spend time near the exit way when everyone is trying to leave the classroom. Another
location would be to post the poster on Facebook since many students spend their free
time on social media while on their study breaks. Facebook has Northeastern class group
pages for every year and many students see updates on their newsfeed. Students who
browse their newsfeed will eventually see the poster and the information about exercise.
Although many students may see this poster as an advertisement online, they will be able
to see one or two things that stand out from the poster due to the bright colors and
interesting subtitle headlines.
As for the content, the information will be a quick read since many students usually do
not bother reading about exercise. Therefore, it is important to make this poster eye
catching for the readers so that they could remember some facts and methods to improve
their physical fitness. At the top of the poster, the title reads Exercising Huskies! which

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clearly shows that the poster is focused on Northeastern students. In addition, the letter
N and U font come from the Northeastern logo and the two paw prints come from the
Northeastern husky logo as well. This builds credibility and allows Northeastern students
to connect and identify themselves with the poster. Furthermore, the overall color scheme
consists of red, green, black, and gray. The red, black, and gray correlate to
Northeasterns colors and green is known to be a positive color of balance and freshness.
Another benefit is that the mix of green and red relates to Christmas, which may attract
readers as they study for finals and think about the upcoming winter break. The rest of
the poster is divided into three sections: statistics about exercise and college students,
benefits of exercising, and ways to become more active. Since many students tend to be
more focused on their studying and their classes in the library and classroom settings, this
poster takes into account that not all students will spend the time to stand or sit down to
read the whole poster or flyer on the table. By using eye catching subtitles that are easily
distinguished by larger font sizes, borderlines, and background colors, the reader will at
least be able to quickly see a fact that intrigues them and hopefully take away one or two
facts to think about while they get back to studying.
The first section is again divided into two sections: How much should you exercise?
and How many college students exercise regularly? These two headlines are phrases as
questions in order to get students thinking and ultimately force them to consider how they
have been exercising during the school year. By answering these two questions on their
own and then by looking at how much exercise is recommended and how many college
students exercise, they will be able to identify with one group or another. In addition,
since the purpose is to draw in all Northeastern students who do not exercise, there is not
too many statistics to overwhelm the reader and prevent him from reading the poster. As
for visuals, under the How much should you exercise? there are two logos: one for the
American College of Sports Medicine and the other for the American Heart Association.
These two logos bring more credibility and reliability to the reader. Although the layout
and design of the overall poster is playful and easy to read for the general public, these
two logos create a sense of importance to the issue. As for the statistics on how many
college students exercise, a pie chart is used in order to quickly show the reader the lack
of exercise among college students. This pie chart is more effective than percentages and
numbers especially because of the red and black colors.
The next section, which is clearly distinguished from the statistics, focuses on how
exercise benefits Northeastern students. The three main points are divided and titled with
big red letters and are labeled: lower stress levels, better grades, and health benefits.
Theses titles are highlighted because most students are interested in better grades and
lower stress levels, especially the Northeastern students who are studying in the library.
This is one of the more important parts of the poster because Northeastern students are
more interested in how exercising will benefit them. Some of the key phrases are
capitalized such as FEEL GOOD and SLEEP which are things that college student
are interested in while they are studying for exams. The images of the graduation hat and
heart also provide a visual for the reader to quickly understand that some of the benefits
include something related to education and health.

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Finally, the bottom of the poster provides ways for Northeastern students to get involved
in exercising activities on or near campus. Each section provides a different activity for
Northeastern students to get involved in and all of the activities are geared toward
specifically Northeastern students or people in the Boston area. Each activity is title with
a red font and provides a quick description for readers to quickly understand and
hopefully remember so that they could research about an activity later on when they use
their computer or phone during their study breaks. The quick tip and image of two
students walking together is also meant to attract study groups because many students in
Snell or classes are with friends who may possible agree to exercising together.
Overall, the design of the poster does not look too professional since the purpose of the
poster is to get as many Northeastern students to look at the information. The information
provided is short and concise which will not overwhelm the reader and the facts and
sections are clearly separated so that it will be easy for the reader to take away from the
information. For instance, if a student is just interested in the benefits, he can quickly find
it on the poster. Or, if the student just wants to know how to get involved, he can just
look at the green bolded title How to become an active husky. The main goal of the
poster is to get Northeastern students interested in the idea of finding the time to exercise
and have them realize that exercise will not take away from their study time.

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References
Collette, M. (2013). 3Qs: The building of a fitness tribe. news@Northeastern.
Retrieved from http://www.northeastern.edu/news/2013/01/november-project/.
Gruber, K.J. (2008). Social support for exercise and dietary habits among college
students. US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health. Retrieved from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19086670.
How it Works: Hubway. Hubway. Retrevied from http://www.thehubway.com/how-itworks.
How much physical activity do adults need? Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Retreived from http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/guidelines/adults.html.
Rasberry, C.N., Lee, S.M., Robin, L., Laris, B.A., Russell, L.A., Coyle, K.K., Nihiser,
A.J. (2011). The association between school-based physical activity, including physical
education, and academic performance: a systematic review of the literature. US National
Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health. Retrieved from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21291905.
Vankim, N.A., Nelson,T.F. (2013). Vigorous physical activity, mental health, perceived
stress, and socializing among college students. US National Library of Medicine National
Institutes of Health. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23470187.