Construction of a gym designed for students with special
limitations is officially under way at Gavilan College.
Construction of a gym designed for students with special limitations is officially under way at Gavilan College.
On Tuesday, Gavilan trustees, staff and students celebrated the improvements the new building will make to the Adaptive Physical Education program to be housed there. The program will offer students with a variety of adaptive needs – including back injuries and arthritis – an opportunity to participate in physical activity courses.
The gym will feature an adaptive basketball court and special flooring as well as a “Human Performance Lab,” an exercise room with special equipment.
“People who use wheelchairs will be able to get a good workout,” said Fran Lopez, dean of Disabled Student Programs.
The more than 150 students who use the old facilities each semester are looking forward to the new building, Gavilan spokeswoman Jan Bernstein Chargin said.
“Some students have been using the cramped, kind of makeshift room off of the locker room, and have been told every semester that ‘yes, we have a new one coming,’” Bernstein Chargin said.
The wait has been 13 years, due to the difficulty of obtaining state funding to pay for the $4.5 million project. The state contributed $4 million to the facility through a voter approved bond – Proposition 1A. Gavilan College picked up the remaining $500,000.
Details: 848-4865.
