Opening in November: The Moore Family Fitness Center
By Alisa Harbison
This article appeared originally in the Fall 2018 issue of Frontiers Magazine.
During the fall of 2018, SMC will open a brand-new fitness center. This fitness center will emphasize that the health of the Pioneers is important, and that the campus is dedicated to making our community better. Funding for the center was led by gifts from SMC Board of Trustees members John Moore, Marianna Habisreutinger, James Fletcher Thompson, and W. Guy Spriggs. SMC also won a grant of $100,000 from the Foundation for the Carolinas. “These funds will be used primarily for the capital expense of building the fitness center,” said Jennifer Dillenger, Vice President for Institutional Advancement.
The College hopes the facility will be a way to build a stronger sense of community for students.
Freshman student Skylar Lim is excited about the new center. “It’ll give us an opportunity to get in shape, plus we won’t have to pay for Planet Fitness anymore,” says Lim.
Professor Barry Ward, who teaches health and physical education classes, sees the fitness center as promoting a healthy campus. “Living better and longer is not a mystery: You must move more and eat fewer non-nutritional foods,” he says. “The two best natural medicines are a healthy diet and exercise.”
Currently, students and student-athletes share a weight room in Bridges Arena, which is open from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. The new fitness center will be open 24 hours a day and will include aerobics machines, free weights, weight machines, and an aerobics classroom. John Moore, whose father, William S. Moore, attended SMC and also served on its Board of Trustees, believes his father would have been proud of the new fitness center.
“My father always credited the school for providing him with the foundation he needed to be successful,” he said. “It is my hope that students will view this new facility as a key part of their overall SMC education and one day look back on their experience as fondly as my father did.”
The new fitness center will be completed by November 1 and named for Moore’s family. The Moore Family Fitness Center will stand next to the William S. Moore Student Athletic Activities Building, or “Moore Gym” as it’s more commonly known. “SMC is always striving to create the best environment for students to have the opportunity to grow and develop. The new fitness center fits perfectly into the plan to further develop that environment,” Moore says.