The key to fitness

Daniel Wright Junior High School may soon be home to the fittest children in the North Shore.

That is the school's hope after opening its new fitness center in November.

Building the center was a project five years in the making as part of the Learning Fund Foundation's health and fitness initiative.

Leslie Munger, former foundation president who helped create the initiative, said among projects under the initiative were adding playground equipment at Sprague and Half Day schools, offering healthier menu options at all schools and adding a climbing wall and cardio room at Daniel Wright, including stationary bicycles where students can compete using Playstation 2 games and Dance Dance Revolution equipment.

The foundation is supported by private and corporate donations and its annual major fundraiser, the All-Star Evening, which the fitness center is named after.

Munger said the foundation contributed $100,000 toward equipment costs and another $75,000 toward building the space.

Principal Josh Carpenter said when he first thought of a workout facility, he considered it may feature jump ropes and some free weights. The completed space is beyond his expectations.

"They already have a wonderful program," he said. "But this separates us from the others to provide a well-rounded physical experience."

Tony Novelli works for Hyperfit, a Naperville-based company that provided all the equipment. He said the goal is to provide the safest but most technologically advanced system available.

"(The goal is) to give students and teachers tools they can use to program a variety of training exercises they can deal with a student at any level," he said.

The center features 12 cardio stations, and everything including treadmills, elliptical machines and recumbent bikes are human powered. He said jumping machines called air bounders will be added.

Seventh-grader Kari Moffat added she looks forward to come there to meet friends, exercise and watch the TV.

"If you make it fun, you do not think about working hard," she said.

The center also features 14 weight stations that are controlled using magnetic resistance. Students use a dial to add resistance, so peers cannot see how much is lifted.

"There is no issue of competition where kids compete against one another to outlift," Novelli said.

The equipment, using a key, is designed to report, document and track what each child does. A big push in physical education, he said, is to generate data.

"The hardest part is how to collect data without standing there to write it down or have students write it down," he said.

Using the chip, teachers formulate a workout for each student. As a student completes work on the equipment, the chip records their work. It is then downloaded onto computers in the fitness center, where students can print the document.

Novelli said Daniel Wright is the first middle school in the area to use this system, which was primarily developed for health clubs to help clubs retain membership.

"I thought it would be a great application for a school setting. It generates quantifiable data," he said.

Moffat looks forward to using the chip, adding she will be able to look at her progress as she uses the center.

"You can keep going and know you are getting more exercise out of it," she said.

The center will be used as part of the physical education curriculum. Carpenter said teachers also have been given equipment keys and hopes they will utilize the center before and after school.