Students enrolled at the state’s newest university in Polk County are back at school for the third year, and once again, the school plans to break ground on yet another building to keep up with demand.
In the coming weeks, Florida Polytechnic plan to break ground on a brand new Wellness and Aquatics Center on its campus right off I-4.
“Our fitness center right now is great but it’s not really cutting it,” said Ashley Ross, who runs the current facility that is often overcrowded at all hours of the day.
The new facility will be three times the size of the current run and have two outdoor pools.
“It’s going to be shaped like a phoenix so that’s really cool, I don’t think a lot of schools have their building shaped like their mascot,” said Kelci Wilson, a Sophomore at Florida Poly.
The new wellness center will include a more than 2,700 square-foot strength training area, a covered outdoor rock climbing wall, and a multipurpose room for group fitness classes.
“People just want room, they want space, and they want the freedom to move around we want them to really experience things outside the classroom as well.
The student body has doubled in size since the first class three years ago, currently at more than 13-hundred students.
The plan is to taper off somewhere around two thousand.
One point of contention since the beginning is the state’s newest university is still not accredited. Officials tell ABC Action News it is now a candidate for accreditation and could get the green light as soon as this school year, but that is entirely up to the accreditation agency.
Wilson said she and her friends don’t even talk about it because they are confident it will happen.
“They’re working extremely hard to get it done so I’m sure they’ll get it done,” she said.
