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DHS buys Dexter Wellness Center for 24-25 school year
By: Adison Din
Dexter Community Schools has purchased the Dexter Wellness Center to host a new fitness elective that will be offered starting in the 2024-2025 school year.
The Wellness Center will continue to operate as normal for at least another year, with the new elective taking place during this time. To mitigate interference between students and the regular residents of the gym at that time, DHS has taken cautionary measures and communicated with the employees at the Wellness Center. According to Superintendent Christopher Timmis, he said that the employees have disclosed that “Around noon-ish, it really slows down and then picks back up right at the end of the day. So around three o’clock is when it starts to pick up again.” So the class is going to take place during third and fourth-hour classes around noon which perfectly synchronizes with the slowed-down period that the Wellness Center experiences during the day.
Buying the Dexter Wellness Center will open up more PE courses to students. PE is a well-requested elective choice for students and in past years there has been a surplus of demands to be put in one. But with a new elective, this will not be a problem. As student counselor Brandy Jacobs highlights, “Because of how many racks there are we can actually double up weight room classes. So instead of just having one class of Strength Conditioning, we can double up and do two because we have enough room for that to happen.” The PE course that will surround the Wellness Center next year will include activities such as weightlifting, yoga, and gym options. The purchase of the Wellness Center and having a new PE elective will also allow more freedom in scheduling for students. A new employment option has opened up as well and we now need a new gym teacher to teach the class.
Surrounding future projects with adjacency to the Wellness Center purchase, there are plans for the senior center will move to the ATI space in the Wellness Center until a new senior center is built during the 2024 year. As Timmis stated, “We had to move the seniors into the old ATI space until their new buildings are built so that hopefully, within the year, they can move to their new building enhancing property.” This move will allow for both a continuation of the Wellness Center activities that the class and the regulars will attend and a safe living space for the senior centers of Dexter.
