K21 Grant To Provide State-Of-The-Art Equipment To The WCS SAC
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Pictured, from left, are Randy Polston, board member; Matt Dick, board vice president; Jeremy Mullins, board secretary; Jay Baumgartner, board member; Rich Haddad, president and CEO of K21 Health Foundation; Dr. David Hoffert, superintendent of Warsaw Community Schools; Matt Metzger, board member; Heather Reichenbach, board president; Elle Turley, board member.
WARSAW — Warsaw Community Schools is proud to announce the receipt of a grant from the K21 Health Foundation which will assist in creating a stronger focus on fitness and wellness within the future Student Activity Center. The grant, totaling $333,226, will assist in increasing the capacity and access to unique program offerings for students, staff and the community.
The construction of the Student Activity Center began during the spring and is currently underway on the Warsaw Community High School campus. The project was conceptualized following a realization for the need of significant change in order to promote the wellness of students, staff and the community. This recognition resulted from the WCS strategic planning process. After reviewing interviews and feedback sessions with internal and external stakeholders to determine how WCS could improve upon its mission statement, it became clear the theme with highest consistency and urgency was the wellness of students within all buildings. A total of 73 percent of respondents put student wellness as a top priority within the district.
Following these discoveries, WCS began to increase focus on student wellness through the development of a Strategic Planning Acceleration Team, which focused on holistic student and staff wellness and began the planning stages of the Student Activity Center. Unfortunately, current WCS facilities were not capable of fully meeting the wellness needs of students, staff and the community. However, through the creation of the Student Activity Center, WCS will be equipped with a designated space for wellness within the district.
The generous grant from the K21 Health Foundation will provide additional capability for this new space by allowing WCS to maximize the usage of the facility. This will be accomplished through the use of enhanced equipment which will allow staff to smoothly transition between various sporting events and activities which would otherwise be cumbersome and time-consuming. This equipment includes gym dividing curtains, suspended nets for volleyball and tennis as well as additional basketball hoops. This funding will also allow WCS to avoid tax impact through the use of other resources to purchase additional equipment and enhancements to maximize facility usage.
“This grant from K21 was about taking a great project and helping maximize its impact”, shared K21 President and CEO Rich Haddad. “With this equipment, there will be more use by students, staff and the community, as well as more ability to have multiple activities happening at the same time. This was a high impact investment for us to make.”
“We are extremely grateful to K21 for their continued support of our health and wellness facilities and initiatives,” noted Dr. David Hoffert, WCS superintendent. “This grant will provide WCS the opportunity to expand facility usage to multiple groups including students and the community. These funds will be utilized for specialized equipment at the student activity center and will assist in enriching the lives and wellness of students, staff and the community.”