Author: Jocelyn Coffin
After much anticipation, Occidental’s new Alumni Gymnasium Fitness Center opened its doors on Jan. 19, complete with four flat-screen televisions and state-of-the-art workout equipment. Both students and teachers seem to be extremely pleased with the new facility and eager to use it.
The workout center is a total-body fitness center, providing Oxy with the most diverse selection of equipment it has ever seen. The center includes eight treadmills, six elliptical machines, both upright and recumbent bikes, a wide variety of weight machines, dumb bells, free weights, bench platforms and an abs section.
To keep the facility up to date, Oxy leased Life Fitness equipment and reserved the right to replace it every three years.
All in all, the center caters to all types of athletes. Varsity women’s lacrosse player Isabel Osgood-Roach (first-year) said, “I think its spaciousness and professional atmosphere will be a major draw for prospective athletes and will promote exercise and health to the student body as a whole.”
The size of the new facility and the abundance of machines also cuts down on the wait time for machine use. “It’s great to be able to come into the gym and have a selection of available machines to choose from instead of having to wait 15 minutes to use the treadmill,” Emma Chapman (first-year) said.
An 18-month athletic facility study conducted by the school prior to the refurbishment of the gym showed that Oxy was not, in terms of athletic facilities, offering its students the same opportunities as similar- sized institutions. Now, the new facility provides students with various workout options that are more comparable to the benefits provided by a larger institution.
While the gym is full of students on a day-to-day basis, it is also open to alumni and individuals within the community that have a pass.
The facility’s usage will be tracked throughout the semester to determine its permanent hours and possible fees for non-Oxy users.
The gym’s refurbishment cost a little under $300,000 and was funded entirely by Occidental, as opposed to alumni contributions. However, the facility’s namesake is yet to be determined.
Ultimately, the athletics department is very pleased with the final result of its five-month long project.
“It is all part of our effort for providing a quality residential campus community with healthy activity alternatives that compliment a rigorous academic environment,” Athletics Director Jamie Hoffman said in an e-mail interview. “This space is bridging relationships with the entire campus community in a way that is proving to be better than even WE anticipated!”
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