The Frenship Ninth Grade Center can put the finishing touches on a new weight room thanks to a grant from the Lubbock Mayor’s Fitness Council. The $1,000 grant will allow the NGC to purchase equipment such as dumbbells, kettlebells, jump ropes and weights to fill the newly created weight room.

Seeing a need for the PE students at the campus, the NGC converted a large storage room into a weight room to give students an area to work out. Prior to the conversion, students would have to walk to the field house or high school to use a weight room.

NGC Principal Heath Simpson says they were able to purchase rubber flooring for the weight room and began filling it with equipment from other campuses. He says this grant gives them the boost they need to finish the project.  

“It’s going to directly impact our PE classes that right now don’t have a spot to call their own when it comes to weight training,” said NGC Principal Heath Simpson.

Earlier this year, PE and head girls track coach Stefani Shortes took the lead on applying for the grant citing, “Our program matches up well with the mission statement of the Mayor’s Fitness Council because we are always teaching the students ways to stay active throughout their lives and the benefits of staying active and eating healthy.”

Thanks to her work and the team effort by the NGC PE coaches, Frenship was chosen as a grant recipient and presented with the $1,000 on November 22nd. During the presentation, Mayor Dan Pope expressed his excitement to see so many community programs benefit the Mayor’s Fitness Council, an organization dedicated to investing in community programs supporting healthy living.