Hinsdale Central High School students will no longer have to trek to the school’s basement to work out.

Thanks to the effort put forth by hundreds of community members, a new fitness center filled with sunlight, fresh air and state-of-the-art equipment will welcome students by the end of next week.

Central constituents gathered on Monday before the school board meeting for a ribbon cutting ceremony and reception thanking those who made this much-needed facility a reality.

“It’s an exciting opportunity for the Friends of Hinsdale Central Fitness Center. Most importantly it’s an exciting opportunity for the kids now and yet to come,” said Superintendent Nicholas Wahl. “An opportunity for them to be part of and work on their wellness and well being in this facility which is from the contributions of the Hinsdale Central family.”

Students have nicknamed the current fitness center “The Dungeon” because of its location in the basement of the school and its low ceilings. The poorly ventilated, outdated room was in desperate need of replacement.

The new facility is a 5,000-square-foot, well-ventilated, air conditioned room off the field house, overlooking the football field.

Robert O’Hare, who was part of the Friends of Hinsdale Central Fitness Center group, said the ambiance of the new facility is great and it will benefit the students in a number of ways.

“The biggest benefit is the number of people that can use the facility and the desire to use it because it’s a much nicer facility,” he said.

Local architect Steve Mardula, an alum of Central with a son who’s a junior, designed the facility. He said when it came time to decide where it should go they looked for an unused portion of the area, and the location off the field house turned out to be the perfect spot. With the large open space and atmosphere of the facility he thinks students will find it much more welcoming.

“The old original weight room was so dingy and so filthy that no one would want to go in there so it was a good weight room but after a while there was a huge percentage of the student body that just didn’t want to go down there because it’s gross and smelly,” Mardula said. “This is a little more inviting, more warm, with sunshine and fresh air.”

While alum, parents and those throughout the community made the effort to bring this dream to life, the project would not have been possible without a donation from the Bouchard family.

James Bouchard said when the vision for this project started back in 2003, they needed a lot of funds so he talked to his brother, Craig, with whom he runs a business.

“We decided to make a donation to get the fitness center done to give back to the community, but really to give back to Hinsdale Central because it was such a big part of our lives,” Bouchard said.

Bouchard recalls using the dungeon when he was at school, and said the girls would never go down there. Along with a lot of windows to make it well lit, James and Craig wanted to make sure that it was wide open and friendly for all the athletes in the school.

Central Principal Kevin Pobst said this gives the students a facility they can feel good about as it is comparable to a health center where they’d want to work out.

“I think it will make it a much more pleasant experience for so many of our athletes to do the kind of strength training and development they need,” he said. “I also think it will make a big difference in attitude and will be easier to get kids in there and keep them in there.”
Pobst said they are currently exploring different options for the former dungeon.