The finalized Aquatic Fitness Center and the John Paul Jones arena are not only state-of-the-art recreational resources for students, but also recruiting tools for the University.
CNN recently reported that universities are increasingly using campus recreational facilities, or future plans for them, to appeal to prospective students.
According to the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association, 75 percent of college students in 700 of the NIRSA member schools surveyed participate in some sort of recreational activity. Three hundred and thirty-three of the 700 colleges who are members of NIRSA are planning to build new recreational facilities and/or expand their currently offered facilities. These schools will spend upwards of $5 billion on the construction and renovation of recreational facilities over the next five years, according to the NIRSA Web site.
The trend is apparent at the University, which has recently completed the renovation of the AFC. The AFC now includes expanded basketball courts and an elevated running track.
When ideas for the AFC were first developed, the facility was intended to be a University showcase landmark, along with the Rotunda, for visitors, said Mark Leonida, associate director of the Intramural Recreational Sports Department said.
"Many of the prospective students are shown the AFC as part of a recruiting tool," said Leonida.
The University is also spending $129,800,000 on the new John Paul Jones arena, a multi-purpose arena that is scheduled to open in June of 2006, Project Manager Dick Lawrence said.
The state-of-the-art arena will not only house basketball games but will be a "big draw" of other University community events, ranging from musical performances to rodeos, Lawrence said.
The new arena also will be a draw for prospective students.
"When [prospective students] come to visit the Grounds they are obviously going to say 'wow,'" Lawrence said.
According to Leonida, the number of students and faculty who use the AFC has increased in the last year.
"The track is very popular, particularly at night," he said.
Not all of the new students, however, based their decision to attend the University based on the new recreational facilities alone.
"It's a factor in my routine, but it didn't really influence my decision to come here," first-year College student Esther Melby said.
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