Needed updates, expansion made to Goldstein Fitness Center
Planned renovations to the fitness center in the Goldstein Student Center on South Campus were successfully completed in late August.
Readjustments to the fitness center began in July and were completed in August with the intention of providing more equipment while maintaining students’ privacy and comfort within the facility.
In order to make room for new weight machines, cardiovascular machines, such as treadmills and elliptical machines, were moved outside of the fitness center to where the pool table was previously located. The move made room for a variety of benches, weight plates, dumbbells, racks and bars, and a flat-screen television.
Plans to improve the gym facility in the Goldstein Fitness Center began in fall 2009 when students from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry living in the SkyHalls approached the Department of Recreation Services, said Joseph Lore, director of the department.
‘Eugene Law, a student at SUNY-ESF and a representative for ESF with the SU Student Association, approached myself and Bridget Talbot (director of Student Centers and Programming Services) during the fall 2009 semester regarding the possibility of adding free weights to the Goldstein facility,’ Lore said in an e-mail.
A survey was sent out on the South Campus listserv in the spring semester to receive feedback from the students, and additional surveys were available in the fitness center for faculty and staff.
‘The surveys indicated a strong desire for free weights to be added to the facility,’ Lore said.
Focus groups composed of South Campus residents were also held in the spring semester to gain the student body’s opinion on the fitness center’s new setup. Student Centers and Programming Services and Recreation Services wanted to ensure that all of the users of the facility would be comfortable with the new arrangement, Lore said.
The facility has experienced a steady increase in the number of users since the start of the semester, Lore said.
The renovations have evoked positive reactions from some South Campus residents who said they felt the gym was previously inadequate.
‘It’s great to have a good workout facility so close to where I’m living,’ said Ashley Brown, a sophomore in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management. ‘It’s definitely an encouragement for students to be more active.’
Published on September 1, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Contact Alexandra: adhitzle@syr.edu | @LexieHitzler
