It is a classroom for pre-school children, a bathroom for people with disabilities and covered corridors.

As part of the actions of continuous improvement of spaces and infrastructure carried out by the University of La Serena for the students, and in this case, for their sons and daughters, the new offices of the Kindergarten and Nursery "Los Papayitos"".

Authorities, officials, children, parents and guardians participated in the inauguration ceremony of these units, which directly benefit the children. It is a new high school level classroom, which increases the capacity of the Kindergarten from 45 to 63 preschoolers, complying with all JUNJI and Superintendency regulations. A bathroom for people with disabilities and covered corridors were also inaugurated.

This is the completion of a project that was born from the need to provide better space for preschoolers, increase the capacity of the garden and provide a better environment for staff. It also creates a space where University students can carry out their different internships (observation, assistantships and professionals) that are part of their degree.

With this inauguration, the 2019 activities of the Garden for the sons and daughters of ULS students began.

Written by Carlos Carvajal, DGAE

A significant investment made it possible to renovate the floor of the facility, in addition to improving the bathrooms, dressing rooms and laundry room.

An integral formation is the one that delivers the University of La Serena to its students, making available a series of workshops and sports branches where they can strengthen skills such as teamwork, leadership and coping with frustration, as well as promoting values ​​and habits.

Precisely, with the objective of granting the adequate conditions for the development of these activities and as part of the actions to improve the infrastructure and sports and extracurricular equipment for the integral strengthening of the students, the University made a significant investment in the ULS Gym located in the Andres Bello Campus, which contemplated the replacement of the roof of the bathrooms, dressing rooms and laundry room, and improvement and repair of the floor.

This space is used daily by the student community and the different sports branches, so the inauguration ceremony of these improvements considered demonstrations of the soccer, volleyball and table tennis branches, where the work carried out by students from different careers.

The student and member of the soccer sports branch, Gerald Agloni, expressed that being able to have spaces for sports recreation is vital, since he sees it as a complement to his training, for which he highlighted the work carried out by the university: "it is very It is important to be able to count on the spaces that the University gives us today to practice sports and I think it is very good that you take the initiative to improve our sports infrastructure”.

"Our mission is to be able to provide University students with various spaces that contribute to their complementary training," said the General Director of Student Affairs, Mg. Miguel Zuleta.

The activity was part of the celebration of the 38th anniversary of the state campus and was attended by the university community.

Written by Tomás Rodríguez, Communications Department

A large number of students participated in the operation that took place on the Andrés Bello Campus.

The numbers of people infected with HIV have increased exponentially in our country, mainly among young people between 20 and 29 years of age, with the Coquimbo Region being one of the areas of the country that shows the greatest increase in new confirmed cases, with an increase of 82% according to data from the Institute of Public Health (ISP).

Given these worrying figures and the relevance of raising awareness in the community about the issue and taking the corresponding prevention measures, the University of La Serena has promoted the campaign to apply the rapid HIV test, the new version of which was carried out in the parking lot. Andrés Bello Campus.

The rapid test is free and confidential, and is aimed at the diagnosis of HIV, delivering the results in just 15 minutes.

In this new day of the campaign convened by the General Directorate of Student Affairs (Dept. of Health), there were one hundred places available, which were fully taken advantage of by the students.

“It is a super good initiative because it allows all young university students to take this exam. If this was not carried out here at the University, I am sure that many would not do it because it is a subject that is very bureaucratic in hospitals and clinics”, mentioned the student Felipe Muñoz.

Student Francisco Pastén, meanwhile, assured that “it is very important that there be opportunities to perform this test, due to the context that the country is experiencing regarding this disease and the high rates of HIV that have occurred in many young people. Also because of the little sexual education on the matter, both at home and in schools and universities. Although HIV has treatment, it is a disease that greatly affects work and social life.”

This campaign, which reflects the concern of the ULS for the health and well-being of its students, has been carried out thanks to the alliance between the University, the Student Federation, the Seremi de Salud and CESFAM Juan Pablo II of La Serena, and will continue to take place on various college campuses.

Written by Camila Hermosilla and Sebastián Veliz, Journalism students

A discussion was held in the Irma Salas Central Library to provide information about mental health, prevention and treatment.

With the aim of promoting the mental health of the university community, providing information on depression, forms of prevention and treatment, the "No + depre" campaign was launched, which started as an initiative of a group of students with disabilities, linked to the Universal Inclusion and Accessibility project ULS 1799, in conjunction with the Department of Student Health and the student volunteer group of Ped careers. in Differential Education, Journalism, Ped. in Spanish and Philosophy, Psychology and Nursing.

The campaign started with the conversation: “Depression is a disease”, led by the nurse from the Student Health Department, Pilar Bonilla, and the psychologist from the Universal Inclusion and Accessibility project ULS1799, Sandra Salazar. The activity brought together academics, officials and students, who reflected on depression as a mood disorder, which can lead to suicide and which is currently the leading cause of disability worldwide (WHO, 2016).

Those attending the discussion valued this space to promote the mental health of the university community, by facilitating dialogue and demystifying ideas about this disease, which is sometimes connoted as a simple change of mood and is not given relevance in the health by requiring professional treatment of the person who suffers from it.

The activity ended with the invitation to prevent depression through the cultivation of a good support network, self-confidence and self-care.

The "No + depre" campaign considers other dissemination activities, art therapy and self-care days throughout the first semester of 2019, where the prevention of this disease will continue.

As part of the commemoration of its 28 years, the group gave a greeting to the university authorities.

The Tuna San Bartolomé of the University of La Serena made a formal visit to the Rector, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés, and other authorities of this house of studies, which was part of the activities to celebrate the 28th anniversary of this group.

In addition to the musical greeting to the university authorities, the Tuna San Bartolomé took advantage of the opportunity to thank the constant support given to the group during all these years, which has allowed it to stand out nationally and internationally, representing the University, the Region de Coquimbo and the country in different events, both inside and outside Chile, managing to obtain recognition and awards for his work and career.

During the day, the Tuna San Bartolomé also held a Gala in which the Tuna Novata of the Alberto Hurtado University of Santiago was presented, a group sponsored by the ULS group at the end of 2017 and whose members were present at the greeting. protocol that took place at the Headquarters.

La Tuna San Bartolomé was founded by Professor Sixto Abel Cortés Alcayaga, who was in charge of it for more than 24 years. After his death, Professor Mauricio Cortés González took over the leadership of this group, who to date is the director of the tuna.

Source: DGAE Diffusion

Matías Véliz Gómez, a Mechanical Execution Engineering student, achieved third place in the national category - 81 kg.

The National Championship “Japan Ambassador Cup” is one of the most anticipated competitions for judakas at the national level, since the 100 athletes with the best ranking from each region participate and proposes a parameter to review what level our athletes are at.

On this occasion, Matías Véliz Gómez, a student of Engineering in Mechanical Execution and a member of the judo branch of the U. de La Serena, achieved third place in the national category - 81 kg.

Having competed obtaining a bronze medal in this national championship, Matías currently ranks among the 10 best athletes nationwide in his category.

He also managed to add points for the national ranking, where he will be located in fourth or fifth depending on some results. This position in the ranking gives the student the possibility of representing Chile in the next Santiago 2019 Pan American Open Championship.

This tournament, the most important to be held in Chile, is sponsored by the Municipality of Viña del Mar, the Japanese Embassy and the Chilean Judo Federation.

Source: DGAE Diffusion