In honor of Zumba week, which started Oct. 6, our campus celeb is Carmella Holl, a junior Spanish major and Marketing minor. This Zumba instructor is known for her packed classes in the T/W Fitness Center on Monday and Thursday nights. Carmella’s classes have girls coming back week after week to work out despite the fairly crowded room and the fogged up mirrors that her classes draw. To Carmella, instructing Zumba isn’t a job; it’s a place to have a fun workout, meet new people, hang out with, and have a positive and healthy impact on The College’s students.
You’ve probably heard of Zumba before, but if you don’t know what it is, Zumba is a dance and aerobic type of fitness exercise. Carmella describes it as a really fun way to exercise that is repetitive, making it easy for students to follow along. She says that just attending a few classes will get a student used to the way the class works. According to Carmella Zumba is something anyone can do on their own time as well.
This week’s celeb started going to Zumba for the first time in college, three years ago as a freshman. This is Carmella’s second year teaching after getting certified to teach Zumba as a sophomore. At first, she said that she didn’t really know what Zumba was. After attending classes and enjoying them, she saw the opportunity to become an instructor as a way to help people lose weight and change their lifestyles.
According to Carmella, the reactions she gets from the students in her classes is one of her favorite things about teaching. She says that she loves it when people see her around campus and tell her how much they loved her class. Carmella also enjoys seeing people changing their lifestyles firsthand and making the decision to get healthier after coming to her classes. To see the changes in her students, to see them lose weight and get healthier is ultimately the best thing she can take away from instructing Zumba.
“Just come!” Carmella urges hesitant newcomers. Her classes will include familiar music that students here will know and love. “Really, any type of person can do it,” she says just as long as they give it a try.