Mid-Columbia Medical Center is planning a $600,000 revamp of The Dalles High School weight room, including the same state-of-the-art weightlifting equipment found at the University of Oregon.
The hospital hopes the project will serve as a “spark,” said Celeste Hill-Thomas, executive director of the Mid-Columbia Health Foundation, and spur further investment and pride in the school and its students.
The goal is to have the new weight room ready for the next school year.
“This community needs to have something to be proud of with kids, and we’ve got to do something,” she said, “so we can partner with the school district and make a difference.”
North Wasco School District 21 Superintendent Candy Armstrong said earlier, “I think it’s something that’s really going to help us in terms of what we’ll be able to offer students.”
Hill-Thomas said her own daughter attends the high school, and “it makes a difference to me if she would be able to come home and say, ‘Mom, we have the most awesome weight room.’ That would be cool. This building is old and tired and well-loved. We need some new sparks.”
The impetus for the idea came when hospital CEO Duane Francis attended a high school football game in The Dalles in 2010 and saw how outmatched the home team was both in numbers and size.
He thought it was unsafe and a question of whether the kids were “competitively ready” to be on the field, she said.
He decided the hospital had to do something to help. At that point, the high school had cut its weightlifting program, which has since been
restored. First, the hospital partnered with the high school’s then athletic director, Kyle Roselle, and started a program that put hospital-paid athletic trainers at practices and games for a variety of sports both at The Dalles and Dufur. Other trainers work directly in the schools to help with weight training.
Then, the trainers reported back to the hospital about the outmoded weight room, and from that came the idea of revamping it.
After Francis and Roselle came up with a plan for the revamp, hospital staff started researching the best weight lifting equipment, and settled on Power-Lift. They chose the eight-foot combo power racks, at which four or five students can work out at a time. There will be between six and eight of the power racks.
Hill-Thomas has already submitted five grant requests to help fund the project. She plans to have a bulk of the money raised outside the community.
She’s also started a “Level The Playing Field” fundraising campaign to raise money in The Dalles.
The project will make improvements to the approximately 4,000-square foot stand-along weight room to the west of the high school gym. Improvements including adding an HVAC unit for heating and cooling, adding an elevator to get handicapped access to the second floor plus removable padded flooring and the weight equipment.
The second floor of the weight room will also be a physical therapy site, allowing students to get physical therapy close to school, so they don’t have to miss classes, Hill-Thomas said.
The second level of the building will have three west-facing windows added, and the building will also get a new coat of paint.
The second floor will also have Astro turf to do agility training and PE classes.
At least 60 percent of the project cost will be in moveable equipment, such as flooring and weight machines, so it can be moved in the event a new high school is built.
An engineering report is due soon on the structural soundness of the facility to ensure it can bear the weight of the machines, she said.
“The objective of the project really is to improve community wellness, specifically in our youth,” Hill-Thomas said, “both athletes and non-athletes.”
Another goal is to encourage students to participate in sports for the lessons it teaches in teamwork and leadership skills, she said.
She also lauded the working relationship with the school. “I can’t tell you how fabulous it’s been to work with them. They’re gracious in accepting a gift. They’ve got an outside organization that’s wanting to do this and they have the whole time been, ‘This is the best thing ever.’”
She said, “It’s just been refreshing in the sense that they are excited about it. They want to have something good for the kids.”
Also included is a plan to institute a wellness program for staff in School District 21.
The old weight equipment will be donated to schools in Dufur and Sherman County, Hill-Thomas said.
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