Set to open September 2010 at Cal State East Bay in the beginning of Fall Quarter, the new Recreation and Wellness center is geared and ready.
The entire building is built and assembled from recycled material with a LEED gold standard environmental design. Even the floors are made from recycled glass and clear concrete.
The 54,000 square-foot Recreation Center features a wellness center, massage therapy, a 10,000 square-foot fitness center, indoor track educational resources, two studios with hard wood floor and mirrors, full size locker rooms, equipment rental space, an outdoor adventure center and much more.
While all the students will have full access to the Recreation Center which is paid for by their student fees, faculty and staff must purchase a membership, as well as alums or teacher alums.
However, students are able to sponsor one community member with a small fee involved.
The buildings estimated cost was 32 million dollars, however up to now the construction and material has been under budget. Student fees financed the building of the new Recreation Center by starting out at a $25.00 fee in 2007, which has risen to $60.00 in the past three years.
In spite of this fee hike, the new Recreation Center was built “strictly for students and to be run by students” says Krista Smith the Director of Recreation & Wellness of Association of ASI, “which means, no student athletes.”
“Very student focused,” which is the model for ASI can be applied to the new Recreation Center, has already hired twelve student leadership individuals to run the respective programs and building operations. In addition, a job fair will take place on Sept. 27-28 to hire forty to fifty students to work at the new Recreation Center.
The Recreation Center will be open from 6am to midnight Monday thru Friday and 10am to 10pm Saturday and Sunday.
As Krista Smith says “the sky is the limit, whether it be inter-mural sports or fitness classes, we plan to have it all, with ASI expanding the recreation and fitness programs through the input of students.”
Cal State East Bay student Sanja Chand exclaims, “I’m excited because it’s supposed to be a whole new gym with everything in it!”