The Bowers Center for Sports, Fitness and Well-being will be devoted to holistic wellness, which stretches beyond the physical person and will focus on mental and spiritual health, as well.

The new facility will be a way to show Elizabethtown College’s commitment to well-being, but it will also include space for education and physical and mental health promotion.

Throughout the construction process, cameras have been placed on both the north and south sides of the building, so anyone who is interested can watch a livestream and keep track of how the construction process is going. The center is expected to open in fall 2019.

The center is going to be the largest building constructed on the Etown campus in 20 years, coming in at 78,000 square feet.

It will include three tennis and basketball courts, a 180-meter track, fitness and training areas, team locker rooms and outdoor spaces.

There will also be a demonstration kitchen, a lounge area, a juice bar, workshop areas and counseling spaces. The center will include LED lighting throughout, and there will be glass windows that will tint automatically so that energy costs will be reduced.

The school is hopeful that this new wellness center will aid in ensuring future enrollment at the institution because now the College will be on par with many other institutions with similar centers.

The College believes that the new facility is a pivotal part of what is missing from the campus. Etown is accepting gifts made to the Be Inspired Campaign to contribute to health and wellness through the community.

The center was donated by Kenneth L. ‘59 and Rosalie E. Bowers ‘58, who also donated funds for the Bowers Writers House. They were both students at Etown, and they both worked for the College, as well. K. Bowers worked in public relations and taught journalism, and R. Bowers was a librarian and taught Spanish. K. Bowers also served on the Etown Board of Trustees for 25 years and was the chair of the Board for three years.