A Grand Opening

by   |  09.05.11  |  Ceremony, Photos

If the initial student reaction to Abilene Christian University’s newest building could be summed up in two words, they would be: “Cool!” and “Wow!”

Beginning with Chapel and culminating with a massive community lunch that spread over the campus mall, the grand opening Friday of the Royce and Pam Money Student Recreation and Wellness Center ended years of waiting for students, faculty and staff and began a new era focused on whole wellness for the student body.

The 116,000-square-foot renovation and expansion of the Gibson Health and P.E. Center features a bouldering wall, eighth-mile jogging track, leisure pool featuring a lazy river, wet classroom, two large exercise classrooms, a large dividable classroom with demonstration kitchen, new basketball court, cardio floor and suite of offices for the Medical and Counseling Care Center.

A visual look at the grand opening follows the jump.

Speaking in Chapel, Dr. Royce C. Money, university chancellor and former president for whom the facility is named, urged students to pay close attention to the building’s theme verse, Mark 12:30: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength.” Photo by Rachael Hubbard.

Dr. Phil Schubert, president of the university, speaks at the ribbon-cutting ceremony immediately after Chapel. To his right, Money and Money Center executive director Brian Devost listen, along with, to Schubert’s right, Dr. Jean-Noel Thompson, vice president of Student Life and dean of students. Joel Swedlund, director of facility operations, holds the ribbon in the photo, while Dr. Kerri Hart, director of training and fitness programs, holds the other end out of view. Photo by Paul A. Anthony.

Students quickly filled the lobby of the center as they filed through the turnstiles, all the while snapping photos and recording video of the new facility. Photo by Rachael Hubbard.

With crowds gathering below, staff and student workers watched from above. Photo by Rendi Hahn.

The last item to be completed in the center was the leisure pool, which crews were plastering as recently as the Aug. 27 dedication ceremony. It was full, staffed and ready for use in time for the grand opening, however. Photo by Rendi Hahn.

Students lined up to try out the bouldering wall – with helmets, of course. Photo by Paul A. Anthony.

Student workers were on hand to show off the new TechoGym equipment and answer questions from students seeing it for the first time. Photo by Paul A. Anthony.

Students waisted no time trying out the equipment, especially the treadmills.

Throughout the afternoon, ARAMARK food services employees served hot dogs and hamburgers on the campus mall. University staff called the event “the second feeding of the 5,000,” and tables and chairs for eating were set up outside and throughout the Money Center. Photo by Rendi Hahn.

A new facility with new landscaping means photographers for years to come will be finding new ways to capture the effect of the building on the campus around it. Photo by Paul A. Anthony.