SoMA, and peer, Annastazia Chin ‘22, recently spoke with Mia Conte ‘22 and Abel Ngala II ‘22 about what compelled them to be a part of the 2020 National Recreation Movement Project (fun fact: hundreds of colleges and universities are virtually a part of this movement this fall) on Trin’s campus, and how students can get involved and be active during the pandemic.

A little info: Mia Conte ‘22 is a double major in psychology and political science. Her interests are photography, reading books, exploring cities, and finding new coffee spots. Abel Ngala II ‘22 majors in studio arts and is a creative and brand owner. He designs clothes, websites, and experiences in pursuit of fulfilling one’s entertainment and happiness.

What is the Recreation Movement?

The Recreation Movement is an initiative for people to remain active during the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal of the national movement is to keep students active together, even when students at different colleges and universities are miles apart. There are hundreds of classes to choose from so you can find the one that is best suited for you. The Recreation Movement platform even gives you the ability to log and track your workouts. Recreation Movements overall goal is to log five million minutes of movement, and we as Bants can contribute to that goal.

Here at Trin, the recreation department is having students compete against each other and whoever is on top of the leaderboard will be able to win prizes each week. (Nothing like a little friendly competition, right?)

There is an overall leaderboard for the Recreation Movement, which can be found on their website, and which shows the rankings of each school based on the amount of minutes of movement. Let’s get Trin up on the leaderboard! Here’s how we can do this—head to over Recreation Movement’s website to sign up for free and from there you can participate in any workout of your choice. Pretty easy!

Mia, what made you want to be a part of this project?

I was asked to be the photographer for the project. As an athlete, I know the importance of being active, and how it is beneficial in many other aspects of life (especially mental health and well-being). I chose to be apart of this project because I believe in its mission of promoting fitness and wellness amongst people in this very uncertain period.

Abel, what’s the purpose behind the photography of this project?

Well, we wanted to highlight and depict what it means to be active. Mia and I figured out the best way to promote the program was by shooting our friends and teammates as they were being active around campus. We were able to spread the word around, and build a beautiful campaign.

Mia, what inspired the shots that you captured, and what inspired the spaces you used for the photoshoots?

Our goal was to get pictures of our friends being active, whether they were playing basketball, running or even boxing—we just truly wanted to capture the essence of fitness and what that could look like on campus or around Hartford. We didn’t limit our creative scope so wherever we felt like a good picture could be captured—we trusted our gut and just went for it and we got some really cool shots. Abel brought a speaker so there were a lot of positive vibrations around which resulted in us being able to capture those dynamic movements.

Abel, what was the creative inspiration behind this project?

As Mia said, we wanted to capture our friends being active and we were very intentional about which spaces we chose to use and the depth embodied in each shot. We wanted to make people excited about working out and moving their bodies.

Do you both see yourself getting involved with more photography projects on campus?

Abel: Yes I believe we’ll do more projects together on campus. I love working with Mia, she’s a great photographer and I only see her getting better.

You can see more of Abel’s and Mia’s work on Instagram at @abelnocain and @visualsbymiaa.conte and LET’S BE SOCIAL with @trinity.recreation 

Starting the week of 10/19, the recreation department will be awarding prizes to the top two Trin students who have logged the most points with the Recreation Movement platform each week! Register and start logging your fitness points! Use the hashtags: #recmovement #recathome #trincoll, when posting on your social feeds now through the program’s end in November.

And if you are looking for an awesome way to log those movement minutes, consider signing up for the CT Collegiate Virtual 5K, which starts 10/22 and runs through 10/25. Register, run/walk/jog, post a selfie using #CTRunsTogether, and submit your time. In other words, GET MOVING!