By Johnna Guillerman
In recent weeks, students walking up to the Bell Center have noticed many construction vehicles and custom fencing at the facility. Inside, the construction becomes even more apparent as entire sections of floors are closed, and workout centers are relocated to cramped classrooms.
The William H. Bell Athletic Center is undergoing a major renovation starting in December 2016, and will last till February 2018. The athletic department hopes to provide students with a “state of the art” athletic facility.
What many people don’t know is that planning for this renovation actually started more than 10 years ago. “Our architect, Marmon Mok, did the initial feasibility study back in 2007,” said Seth Asbury, the associate director of Athletics for Facilities and Event Management, who has worked with Trinity for 11 years.
The funding for the project amounts to $14.2 million, mostly through donation and fund raising. “We could not start the project until we had all the money. [That’s] one reason it's taken so long since the initial feasibility study in 2007,” said Asbury.
According to him, 70% of students participate in campus recreation activities, and a high quality athletic facility is important to the quality of campus life.
“Students pay a premium tuition at Trinity; they should have a state of the art athletics facility to play and workout in,” said Asbury. “While the Bell Center has held up over 25 years being a great facility, it needs freshening up to be one of the best facilities in the country.”
Many students on campus shared the same view. Elizabeth Walker is a junior at Trinity University who works out frequently. “I think that in general it’s kind of outdated,” she talked about the old Bell Center.
Freshman Ari Fletcher agreed. “It was definitely really hot and kind of gross in the weight room with the platforms when there were too many people in there. The ventilation wasn’t great and the lighting wasn’t great.”
After renovations, equipment will be newer and there will be more room for everyone.
Asbury explained that when the Bell Center opened in 1992, they only had 250 varsity athletes. In 2017, the school has 560 varsity athletes, hence the overcrowding.
With all the construction going on, students have expressed some frustration with the inconveniences. Weight rooms have been relocated to classrooms, some areas are completely closed off, and sometimes there is not enough room for students to work out.
“The inconvenience now is just they’ve taken away some gear that I use a lot in my workouts, and I know other people I’ve heard from. But that’s just because of lack of space,” said Greg Labbe, a junior who visits the gym every day.
But students also demonstrated understanding. “There’s some machines that just aren’t there now that I had in routines, so that’s been fun, I’ve had to get creative,” said Fletcher with a laugh.
Asbury also remains positive about the inconveniences. “The cool thing to me is we've been able to remain open during construction!” During the construction of the Bell Center in 1991, the old gym was completely vacated, he said. “So while we've been inconvenienced now, I think we've had a much easier time than the students and staff that were here 26 years ago.”
Though difficulties have come with the process, students and faculty look forward to the future. Everyone agrees that the gym will be a major point of attraction for prospective students, even if they are not athletes.
“I think, a gym is kinda cool when it’s new because it’s flashy and it shows them, hey we’ve got this new facility,” Labbe said. “It shows them we’re following in modernization and things like that. So it’ll definitely look nice and be appealing to new students.”
According to him, 70% of students participate in campus recreation activities, and a high quality athletic facility is important to the quality of campus life.
“Students pay a premium tuition at Trinity; they should have a state of the art athletics facility to play and workout in,” said Asbury. “While the Bell Center has held up over 25 years being a great facility, it needs freshening up to be one of the best facilities in the country.”
Many students on campus shared the same view. Elizabeth Walker is a junior at Trinity University who works out frequently. “I think that in general it’s kind of outdated,” she talked about the old Bell Center.
Freshman Ari Fletcher agreed. “It was definitely really hot and kind of gross in the weight room with the platforms when there were too many people in there. The ventilation wasn’t great and the lighting wasn’t great.”
After renovations, equipment will be newer and there will be more room for everyone.
Asbury explained that when the Bell Center opened in 1992, they only had 250 varsity athletes. In 2017, the school has 560 varsity athletes, hence the overcrowding.
With all the construction going on, students have expressed some frustration with the inconveniences. Weight rooms have been relocated to classrooms, some areas are completely closed off, and sometimes there is not enough room for students to work out.
“The inconvenience now is just they’ve taken away some gear that I use a lot in my workouts, and I know other people I’ve heard from. But that’s just because of lack of space,” said Greg Labbe, a junior who visits the gym every day.
But students also demonstrated understanding. “There’s some machines that just aren’t there now that I had in routines, so that’s been fun, I’ve had to get creative,” said Fletcher with a laugh.
Asbury also remains positive about the inconveniences. “The cool thing to me is we've been able to remain open during construction!” During the construction of the Bell Center in 1991, the old gym was completely vacated, he said. “So while we've been inconvenienced now, I think we've had a much easier time than the students and staff that were here 26 years ago.”
Though difficulties have come with the process, students and faculty look forward to the future. Everyone agrees that the gym will be a major point of attraction for prospective students, even if they are not athletes.
“I think, a gym is kinda cool when it’s new because it’s flashy and it shows them, hey we’ve got this new facility,” Labbe said. “It shows them we’re following in modernization and things like that. So it’ll definitely look nice and be appealing to new students.”
Next, please do something with the football facility that would embarrass students at a Texas 2A high school ...
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