Academy Celebrates New Fitness Center
At 1 PM on Saturday, Sep. 12, students and faculty gathered to celebrate the opening of the Academy’s Downer Family Fitness Center and to thank the Downer family and other donors for their generous contributions to the Exeter community. The ceremony featured a ribbon cutting and an uncovery of the name of the fitness center.
Scores of community members—students, faculty and staff—came together to mark the moment. Several of the attendees played critical roles in bringing the facility to life, including former principal Tom Hassan and staff and faculty from Buildings and Grounds, the Department of Athletics and Institutional Advancement.
“I think the new fitness center is all that an athlete at Exeter could want and more. I’m excited to get to use the facility myself during my athletic training, and I’m sure that it is an addition that will help many student-athletes in the future.”
Trustee Tony Downer ‘75 and his family flew in from all across the world for the special occasion.
Many Exeter athletes and sports teams also attended to express their thanks. “I decided to go to the ceremony because it was a big day for Exeter athletics and supporting them was the least I could do,” upper Mitchell Kirsch said. “I spend more of my time in that building than in any other building at Exeter, so I wouldn’t miss such a big day.”
Principal Lisa MacFarlane opened the ceremony by thanking the Downer family for “their wonderful gifts of talent, time and stewardship [to the Academy], as well as the new fitness center.”
Afterward, Downer himself addressed the community, explaining why he championed the cause and sharing his vision of the various potential usages and positive impacts of the fitness center.
The Academy has a deeply embedded history and place in the Downer family as Downer, his wife and their children all attended Exeter. The Downer family has always emphasized the importance of exercise and good health and when these two factors aligned perfectly with the emergence of the fitness center project, the Downers jumped on the opportunity to give back to their community.
“We cherish the friendships we made [at the Academy]. Our family owes an immeasurable debt to the school,” Downer said. “[In addition], to this day, we all exercise on a daily basis and participate in a number of recreational sports. So, there was a great fit between the nature of the project and the interests of our family.”
After Downer’s remarks, Director of Athletics Shane LaPointe spoke and soon after, MacFarlane invited physical education instructor and former Director of Athletics Robert Morris and Strength and Conditioning Coach Andrea Sweet to unveil the name and plaque of the center.
After, the much-awaited ceremonial ribbon-cutting marked the official opening of the new fitness center. MacFarlane invited the Downer family, LaPointe, Morris and Sweet to participate. As Acting Director of Institutional Advancement Harold Brown explained, the ribbon cutting is traditionally performed by people instrumental in the funding of the building and is a way of publicly acknowledging appreciation for the donor’s gift.
“We were pleased Mr. Downer’s wife and children—all [of whom are] alumni—were present to publicly receive our thanks,” Brown said.
The fitness center is now officially open to the Exeter community, and the reception has been overwhelmingly positive. The new, larger facility has made it possible for many individuals and teams to train at the same time.
Athletes and coaches alike are thrilled to train in a new fitness center that contains more equipment that caters to the needs of all the sports teams. Senior Graham Hazlett voiced his support for the new center and its benefits to atheltes in the years to come.
“I think the new fitness center is all that an athlete at Exeter could want and more. I’m excited to get to use the facility myself during my athletic training, and I’m sure that it is an addition that will help many student-athletes in the future,” Hazlett said.
With enough space for team dynamic warm ups and conditioning circuits, an increase of nine racks and an upgraded sound system, the Downer Fitness Center will become the main hub for athletes on the Exeter campus—exactly what Downer had envisioned.
In his speech at the ceremony, Downer compared “the English teacher who reigns supreme around the Harkness table” to the “teacher in a Patriots t-shirt and running shorts,” explaining that at the new fitness center, Exonians of all ages will forge friendships as they pursue the shared goal of health and well being.
“This fitness center can serve as a destination that brings our entire community—students, faculty and staff—together in a setting of common endeavor,” Downer said. “Here, adults and students alike can shed the stress of their day, let their minds journey to the realm of inspired and spontaneous thought and care for their bodies and their spirits in much the same way that the classroom tends to their minds and their character.”