Morrin students have been given new educational opportunities from a new extensive weight room, workout space.
The school opened the new facility in January. It features stationary exercise machines, as well as free weights, punching bags and treadmills. The opportunity came by chance.
Principal Don Yavis explains Delia School principal Steve Nielson, who at one time taught at Morrin School, stumbled upon an online classified ad with the equipment. The story behind the ad was that a Christian missionary who opened a gym in Medicine Hat for youth in need owned the equipment. This winter the roof of the gymnasium collapsed and he put the equipment up for sale. With no space at Delia School, Yavis jumped on the opportunity for the affordable high quality equipment, a luxury they would have not been able to afford.
The gym not only helps towards the fitness and well being of students and staff, but it also can be applied to curriculum.
“The Phys-ed 20 and 30 classes uses it as a part of their program, and we have a high school CTS (Career and Technology Studies) option class that is fitness. It runs through different aspects such as nutrition, and they use this for their cardiovascular and muscular-skeletal modules. So they do some training,” said Yavis.
He says the facility is a boon for the school.
“It opens up a huge door for us, because part of our struggle as a small school is options. So the kids who don’t take the high academic streams have to fill in with other course, but we don’t have the teachers to teach them, so they end up doing modules. This way we can bring 15 kids in and teach them and they can earn the credits.”
The school has also benefited this year with the addition of the foods lab, which opened last June in the space formerly known as “the Hub,” which allows them to offer more options. Prairie Land Regional Division also employed a mobile CTS lab, which can offer programs at its various schools.
MLA Jack Hayden was impressed with the facility, and praised the school for seizing upon the opportunity.
“There isn’t any way a rural school could afford a facility like this,” he said touring the space last Thursday.
Yavis says they are working on possibly opening the facility to the community.
