In a survey conducted by the Daily Kent Stater of 15 men and 15 women, 67 percent of women find it easier to meet a potential partner at the rec center rather than a classroom setting. Only 20 percent of men felt it was easier to meet women at the rec center.

Becca Arch, a senior business management major, agrees with the results.

“The rec is a great place to meet people,” Arch said. “I feel like people are more sociable and easier to talk to here.”

Approximately 60 percent of women surveyed at the rec center said that they would consider talking to someone of the opposite sex while working out.

Not all girls agree. Kelly Skaggs, a senior human development and family studies major, said that she finds it intimidating to talk to men at the rec.

The survey showed that more females have been approached than men. Only 47 percent of men have been approached compared to 60 percent of women.

Dustin Diemert, a senior criminal justice major, said he goes to the rec to lift, but likes the idea of women being there.

“I don’t look for girls at the rec, but I do like to see girls at the rec instead of a bar with a beer in their hand,” Diemert said.

Employees at the rec center also think it’s easier to meet new people, whether it’s a new friend or a potential date.

Brent Oani, a senior hospitality management major, and Anjuli Lucas, senior fashion merchandising major, met at the rec center their junior year when both were employed there. They’ve been together for almost a year and a half now.

Lucas and Oani met through friends at work and said that if it wasn’t for the rec center, they probably wouldn’t be together.

They do everything together and just last Thanksgiving, while Lucas was studying abroad, Oani went to visit her and both had Thanksgiving dinner together in Barcelona.

“We are pretty much like the same person besides the fact that I’m a girl and he’s a guy. We’re both goofballs,” Lucas said.

Julianne Petrincini, a senior communications studies major and guest services supervisor at the rec center, doesn’t think she could date someone she works with.

“I just don’t think I could do it because if things go bad, I still have to see them at work every day,” Petricini said.

Only 53 percent of men said that they would approach someone of the opposite at the rec center.

Justin Almon, a senior sports administration major, said he isn’t afraid to approach girls.

“All I do to get girls attention is I look at them, lick my lips and then smile and if they smile back that’s when I approach,” Almon said.

Contact Darian Thomas at [email protected].