Chapel in Moody was canceled Tuesday as 380 students took the opportunity to walk the Lunsford Trail for Chapel credit.

Jan Meyer, interim vice president of Student Life and director for Cdenter for Christian Leadership and Service, said they hoped the walk helped students realize that physical health is just as important as spiritual health.

“Wellness is a spiritual issue, in addition to being a physical issue. To call attention to it in the best way possible, we want to really make a statement and say, ‘This is so important,'” Meyer said.

The walk was started last year, but not many students attended with the total barely capping off at 100. This year, she said they focused on bringing in more students, and the first step was canceling Chapel in Moody.

“If I had the choice of sitting in a classroom and learning or going outside, I’d choose going outside,” Meyer said.

The walk was a part of ACU’s annual Wellness Week.

Along the Lunsford, 14 booths from organizations both on and off campus were set up. Church booths, Zumba and spin classes, and even a masseuse booth with employees from Pura Vida Salon were included.

“All the different groups that you see around the trail all have to do with our wellness, whether it’s social wellness or emotional,” said Kerri Hart, assistant professor of kinesiology and nutrition.

Students in attendance appreciated the opportunity to walk and receive Chapel credit.

Mychal Ricks, junior management major from Missouri City, Mo. said college kids don’t get enough chances to work out during the week.

“It’s really hard to fit it into your schedule, so I think that this is great because you have to go to chapel anyways,” Ricks said.

Caleb Hill, junior management major from Gaithersburg, Md., said he enjoyed taking a walk and getting to enjoy the weather.

“I love the outdoors so anything that has to do with outdoors, I’d do it in a heartbeat,” Hill said.

Isaiah Teran, junior marketing major from San Antonio, stops at a booth set up along the Lunsford Trail during Wellness Week. (Optimist photo by Garon Goodspeed)

Hill said that many times Moody chapel can get crowded.

“Moody’s a bit small and cramped, so this is more fun,” he said.

Hart said that one of the reasons they planned on doing the walk instead of Chapel in Moody was that being physically healthy is also a form of worship.

“Our bodies are the temple and we are given charge of our bodies, so we should try to make them as well as possible,” she said.

Jessica Nguyen, a counselor at ACU’s Counseling Center and the planner of the event, said they are already in talks on how to make next year’s walk even bigger.

“It is always so exciting when we can partner with departments and organizations across campus with a common goal of Wellness,” she said.