Health and Fitness Education Center
The Bluffton master plan, developed in 2000, identifies a Health and Fitness Education Center as the next institutional priority. When Founders Hall was built in 1952, Bluffton had a student body of 250, no women's varsity teams and just five men's teams. Today we have more than 1,100 students and eight men's and eight women's NCAA D-III varsity sports.
When completed, the 60,000-square-foot LEED-certified green facility will
- House the health, fitness and sport science department which graduates many teacher-coaches and prepares students for expanding opportunities in the fields of recreation and rehabilitative care.
- Support admissions efforts because facilities matter when students are choosing schools. Just as Yoder Recital Hall, Centennial Hall and Neufeld Hall have brought Bluffton’s arts, academic and residential facilities in line with the best, this facility will do the same for wellness and athletics.
- Renew our commitment to varsity athletics by providing essential and necessary facilities as Founders no longer meets all NCAA guidelines for competitive events, for example court length for basketball and ceiling clearance for volleyball.
- With a doubling of court space, intramural athletes, who often wait until after 10 p.m. for ‘their turn,’ will be able to participate more often and at more reasonable times.
More about ways to give toward the Health and Fitness Education Center
