Wellness center reopens after renovations
Union’s small, friendly campus may be hard to navigate at first, but once you’ve lived here for a while, each building becomes more and more familiar. Whether you’re heading to a class in the Dick Building or grabbing a snack from Cooper’s Corner in Don Love, most things remain the same year to year. Except the gigantic building construction that will permanently change the look of our campus.
What used to be an empty lawn with the occasional sparse tree is now a busy construction site. While not much visible action was happening last semester due to groundbreaking procedures, returning students from last year came back to a rapidly evolving skeleton of the addition to what was formerly the Larson Lifestyle Center, soon to be the AdventHealth Wellness Complex. The original building was painted orange and housed the nursing program upstairs as well as a basement entrance to a small wellness center with two exercise rooms and a swimming pool. Students and employees could access the facility for free; community residents paid for a membership.
After Union’s board of trustees approved a vote to begin construction, the wellness center closed for the 2022 – 23 school year. The basement entrance was filled in, and the inside of the building was renovated. Then work began on the addition in the back.
However, students were excited to learn that the facility, now known as the Reiner Wellness Center (the pool retains the name of Larson) would open its doors for the 2023-2024 school year. While the workout rooms and pool remain similar to what they were before, except for much-needed renovations, students, employees and community residents alike can look forward to the expanded offerings that will come soon.
The reopening of Larson Pool in particular was celebrated with the return of Splash for Cash, an annual Student Association (SA) event where students dive into the pool to collect cash at various places in the bottom. AdventHealth and the Advancement office collaborated with SA to dump $1,250 in the pool on the Aug. 26 event. In addition, the college administration challenged faculty and the SA leadership to a “water bucket challenge.” The SA team won bragging rights for the rest of the year by having the most water saved in the least amount of time.
While the possibilities that our expanded wellness facilities offer will greatly benefit our campus, much work remains. In total, a little less than $1 million is still needed to complete the project. Interested donors can learn more and donate on the Union College website.
By Charles Metz