The Turner Center will undergo improvements and expansions this year that will provide for more activities, more space and more equipment.

According to Joshua Harrington, an employee of the facilities operations branch of the Department of Campus Recreation, the renovations will interrupt some services offered by the Turner Center, but the result will be worth it.

“You won’t be able to rent a locker for a while,” he said. “But there will be more lockers to rent as soon as the work is done.”

In addition to areas for new activities, a portion of the expanded space will go to support activities that have recently experienced high levels of interest.

“We’ll be getting new multi-purpose rooms downstairs for fitness classes, because those are really popular,” Harrington said.

Excluding students who take classes at the Turner Center for academic credit, the building sees between 2,500 and 3,000 gym-goers daily, and the 30-year-old facility is “bursting at the seams,” according to Director of Campus Recreation Bill Kingery.

Sophomore biochemistry major Madeline Hudson often attends yoga classes at the Turner Center.

“It’s crazy the number of people who get turned away from fitness classes like Zumba and cycling because they just can’t accommodate them all,” Hudson said.

The current expansion project is accepting donations from the general public to help see the construction work through. The Turner Center has received funding from both private donations and the Parents Association in the past to help contribute to the Rebel Challenge and team-building programs, as well as to the conversion of a racquetball court into a squash court.

Donations can be made online at the Department of Campus Recreation website, www.campusrec.olemiss.edu/giving.html.

-Katelyn Miller
kamille3@go.olemiss.edu