On
Tuesday we celebrated the grand opening of the District's Employee Wellness
Center, which was renovated and improved as guided by the District's Strategic
Plan, also known as The Macon Miracle.
When
I came to Bibb County, I was shocked to discover that we have one of the most
obese communities in the nation. Wellness is something that is very important,
and we need to take it seriously. As adults, we need to be role models for our
students. We cannot just tell them that they need to exercise and eat healthier
- we need to be the examples.
But
if we want our employees to exercise and feel better mentally and physically
because they are healthy, we must provide them with access to a facility that
will help them to accomplish that goal. While the District's Employee Wellness
Center, which is located at Hutchings Career Center, was acceptable in its
former state, it did not provide much variety or inspiration for our
employees who wanted to work out. So, one of the things we focused on this year
was designing a state-of-the-art wellness facility where employees and their
family members could go to feel better.
The
redesign of this wellness facility would not have been possible without the
support of Coach Eddie Ashley, the District's Athletic Director, who took the
idea and the dream of a better facility for our employees, and ran with it. In
redesigning the Wellness Center, he has added new treadmills and elliptical
machines, free weights, and a jungle gym. He is even working to coordinate
exercise classes for the employees who are interested.
What
you will experience in the renovated Wellness Center is only the beginning. We
want to have more sites across the county where our employees and family
members can exercise so we can have not only a healthier work force but a
healthier community.
I
want to thank everyone who has been by to check out the redesigned facility,
and I invite all employees and their family members who have not seen it yet to
please stop by and learn for yourself what this facility now has to offer. I
look forward to seeing you at the gym!
Having been a member of the Wellness Center for many years, I am delighted to see the improvements that have been made. I am enjoying using the facility again. However, I am still waiting to see a schedule of exercise classes! I have been in touch with Coach Ashley, and he said he would let us know when a schedule of classes was available. Still waiting patiently . . . .
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