The freshman fifteen weighing you down? Well, don’t let it, because Connecticut College just spent a cool $8 million refurbishing over 10,000 square feet of fitness facilities at the Athletic Center.
Director of Athletics, Fran Shields, is especially delighted with the new center.
“I can’t help but start by thanking all of the incredible people on and off campus who made this possible,” Shields commented. “The people in our department are grateful to President Higdon and the senior administration for their vision and leadership in seeing this project to completion.”
The project necessitated the diligent efforts of Connecticut College’s Physical Plant working with over two dozen architects, a number of them hailing from the New London area, excited to work on the first new building constructed on campus in nearly fourteen years.
The official opening of the center transpired on September 3 shortly following the 2009 Convocation ceremony with President Higdon’s snipping of a ribbon.
Since the opening, there has been a great deal of excitement for the new facility and all that it has to offer a cardio-craving Camel.
Deborah MacDonnell, Director of Public Relations, noted in an interview that refurbishing the fitness center has been one of the college’s latest “strategic priorities,” with the belief that it’s important to enable and encourage students to stay healthy as part of their lifestyle as a student of a liberal arts education.
Providing the students with the latest in health and fitness will only help to progress this goal.
The previous facility, known as the Jane Murchison Hamilton ‘42 Fitness-Wellness center, offered many of the same machines and equipment currently offered in the new center – it was simply a matter of space. The new center boasts nearly three times as much space, meaning there will now be plenty of room to allow for activities like pilates, yoga, and all of the sports teams to stretch.
What’s more inspiring about the whole project is that the $8 million needed to complete the project was entirely attained through donations to the college.
As Shields noted, “there were some very supportive donors who made this possible, and it’s gratifying to know that our programs and student-athletes are important to friends of the college. Our advancement team worked tirelessly to secure this funding.”
So, delaying a trip to the Fitness Center due to your fear of dying from 120 mph New London hurricane winds striking the glass? Well, that excuse is out now, because that’s exactly what the over 44,000 pounds of glass will withstand. Furthermore, the entire building is incredibly energy efficient, and is even awaiting certification from the United States Green Building Council.
What are the students saying?
Over eighty percent of students admitted to making a trip down to the fitness center at least once in a while in its previous state. With statistics like that, it’s very possible that soon almost all of our campus will venture down to the state-of-the-art facility, which now rivals any liberal arts college’s athletic facilities.
Sweeping views of the Thames River and Connecticut College track, spacious wood floors on each of the two levels, and brand new televisions overhead elliptical machines are all features alluring us to cross Route 32.
Photo by Lilah Raptopoulos
[…] From my perspective, the biggest issues this semester were the Freeman t-shirt fiasco, concerns for women’s safety, lack of funding for the New York Times Readership Program, limited bandwidth, the bathroom peeper and the opening of the new fitness center. […]