The Pennington Student Activity Center will be expanding its workout area by adding a turf expansion to the old racquetball room.

Seth Thomas, director of Recreational Sports and Wellness, hopes to have the new area fully functioning by the Spring 2020 semester.

Thomas talked about what the expansion will offer faculty and students.

“It’s a 2000-square-foot expansion that will intensify people’s workouts and will allow for a different type of workout,” stated Thomas. “It’s a turf field that will allow for harder workouts and a high-intensity type of training. It will allow for people to go a little bit harder and more in-depth in their workout. We are going to put workout racks on the turf area and some different types of workout machines.”

Thomas shared how he got the idea of expansion at and when it started.

“When I first came to Southeastern about three years ago, I wanted to expand and make a turf area for workout purposes,” shared Thomas. “We started to draw up the blueprints and got approval to build last year. I thought that the REC needed a high-volume workout option for faculty and students who wanted to improve on their workouts. So, we started to brainstorm ideas on what would make it a better place to workout in. The REC used to have an area like this, but it was a major safety issue so we took it out. We hope to unveil this new workout space sometime in early December.”

Dustin Jolliff, a sophomore industrial technology major, expressed what he likes about the Pennington Student Activity Center expanding it’s fitness area.

“It is really cool that we can say our school offers something like this,” shared Jolliff. “I have been wanting an area like this for a while now, somewhere that people can expand and increase their workout activity. It is something that you don’t see in a lot of gyms and universities. It’s like a cross fit area to workout in, so I am excited to see what kinds of opportunity the new area has to offer.”

Jolliff works out during the weekdays and wants to use the turf expansion.

“I am going to try to use the new area for different types of workouts that I can’t do in a regular gym,” said Jolliff. “Sometimes the Pennington can get crowded, and I won’t be able to get a full workout in. So, I think the new area will be a good overflow. I can see myself using the new area to workout a lot of my core and upper body. I feel like with this area I can take my workouts more seriously and take my workouts to the next level.”

Jolliff also wants to show the new workout area to his friends once it is open to the public.

“I think, with this addition, you are going to see a lot more students workout and use the Pennington like it should be used and maybe you will see a lot of people besides the faculty and staff use the new area because it’s going to draw a lot of popular attention,” said Jolliff.

The Pennington Student Activity Center is free for all faculty and students and is a $10 charge per visit for those who are a guest at the university.