LEWISTON – In Regis Beaulieu’s vision of the future, high school students don’t have “gym.”
They have individual fitness plans.
Instead of taking orders from coaches, students work with teachers who are certified personal trainers. Rather than play basketball or dodge ball a couple of times a week, they weight train, do aerobics or try other exercises chosen to meet their own fitness goals.
And they do it all in a large, fully-equipped fitness center right inside Lewiston High School.
“It’s a long-term dream,” said Beaulieu, Lewiston’s school health coordinator.
He and others are working to make that dream come true.
The 15-member Lewiston High School Fitness Center Committee has organized a $100,000 fund-raising campaign.
“We’re supported 100 percent by our superintendent on down, but he can’t write us a check,” Beaulieu said.
The group plans to convert a 3,000-square-foot space at the high school into a fitness center. The space was used by the industrial arts program, which has been trimmed because of dwindling enrollment.
The group, made up mostly of teachers, hopes to refurbish the space and equip the center with weight-training equipment and other fitness machines. It has already received about $15,000 in donations, equipment and pledge, and is seeking donations from alumni and local corporations.
The next public fund-raiser will be a scrapbooking event, raffle and bake sale at the high school. It will be held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m Saturday, April 23. Cost is $15 for Lewiston High School students and $25 for the general public. People may obtain more information or register by calling Carrie Quagliaroli at 795-4190 or e-mailing her at [email protected].
The group hopes to open the new center in the next three to five years. It would help students stay healthy for life, not just for gym class, Beaulieu said.
“That’s our master plan: change the way physical education is delivered,” he said.
Comments are no longer available on this story