Garaway building wellness center behind 7-12 Building
SUGARCREEK (WJER) (July 10, 2023) – Garaway officials are using COVID relief money to create a place for students to get active and decompress.
Preliminary work is beginning for a 3,200-square-foot wellness center behind the 7-12 Building. Superintendent Jim Millet says it will have traditional workout equipment along with areas for stretching, practicing yoga, or fitness classes.
“When we looked at what we had available for exercise and physical activities for our entire student body and staff, we were really in bad shape as far as that goes. So not only is this going to amplify that and improve that, it’s going to provide a lot more space to more people in there and involved.”
Garaway is paying just under $615,000 to build the center and is getting ready to seek bids for the interior. Millet says the entire project is being paid for with federal money the district received during the pandemic and wouldn’t have been possible without it.
“There are always so many more priorities that would come to the forefront and make themselves pressing. This is one where we can be a little proactive and use the money to bless our overall student body and staff.”
He thinks it’s a great investment since research shows that kids who are physically active are healthier, happier, and do better in school.
“I’m excited about the past few years, how things have gone in our recovery process from having some time away and kind of having a different look for education for a few years but to have a building like this, to increase our opportunities for physical activity as well as the mental health aspect is going to continue that positive trend for us.”
The center will go up over the summer and is expected to be finished sometime in November.