OHCHS shows off new fitness center

Photo: Peter L. McGuire

ALMOST READY — A view of the new OHCHS fitness room. The school plans on opening the facility to the school on October 31, but some people can't seem to wait to try out the new equipment.

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WORKIN' OUT — OHCHS students try out the school's new fitness equipment. SAD 17 purchased 45 new pieces of fitness equipment with the $1.2 million PEP grant it received last year. School officials hope the new exercise facility will help improve health and wellness in the district and the community.

PARIS — A little over a year ago, SAD 17 celebrated receiving a $1.2 million grant from the Carol M. White Physical Education Program to improve health and fitness in the school district.

This year, the district is about to unveil the first big results of the grant –  45 brand new, state-of-the-art pieces of physical fitness equipment at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School.

Elliptical machines, recumbent and standing cycles, treadmills and four weight-lifting sets have been installed in the former wrestling room, that the  school's wellness team, made up of a group of seniors, is busy decorating with the OHCHS Viking emblem.

Jen Cash, the SAD 17 health and physical education director, says the new facility is a game-changer – the school plans on integrating the equipment into its health and PE curriculum.

According to Cash, the school is working on bringing a new fitness room coordinator on board to provide resources to help students meet their fitness goals and use the equipment properly.

Brittany Crowninshield, a member of the wellness team, says students are excited to start using the new equipment – it's a huge step up from the school's previous workout room.

"Instead of having a tiny room, where everything is touching, we're going to have more space, more room, more variety," says Crowninsheild.

Cash agrees –  with the new equipment the school's capacity to meet the fitness needs of its students has grown dramatically – the room can accommodate entire classes or sports teams. 

"A whole baseball team can go in there, instead of just one or two people," she says.

Crowninshield and Cash are particularly excited about the wireless heart monitors installed in the facility.

The data from the monitors is displayed on a screen, showing users if they are reaching their target heart rate. 

"You want to try and get up in the same color as other people," Crowninshield says. "I think it provides more motivation – that you  can actually see your own heart rate and how fast you're going."

Only code names show on the display, so students can see how they are doing in comparison with others without being identified.

Cash says students have been really excited about the monitors – some students haven't wanted to get off the equipment until they reach their target heart rate.

A fitness room is also being installed in the middle school, Cash says, although it is smaller and is less comprehensive than the high school's.

She says with a smaller school size and different fitness needs, the new room will serve the same purpose for the middle school – encouraging better fitness for students.

With the PEP grant, SAD 17 is attempting to change the situation in Oxford Hills, which often gets a reputation for ill health and obesity.

Cash and others hope the new equipment can help transform the health and wellness of the students and through them, the community.

The new facilities didn't come cheap, however – Lance Belanger, the PEP grant coordinator, says the first year's disbursement of $692,000 was mostly used.

Although the price tag for the project seems high, Cash says the district spent considerable time researching the equipment it wanted.

"When the PEP grant's over, we're not going to have hundreds of thousands of dollars to replace this stuff," says Cash. "We got stuff we knew was going to last."

It's not only students who are excited about the new room – school employees will have access to the facility, and some are chomping at the bit to get in and try out the new equipment.

The fitness room will officially open on October 31 and November 1, but already, classes –  and employees –  have gotten a jump and started using the new equipment.

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CODE NAMES —  An example of the heart rate monitor display in use at the high school's new fitness room. Each label is a different student, identified by a code name. Students try to reach their target heart rate, while seeing how their classmates are doing, which provides a lot of motivation to work out, students say.