Sometime last week tables, news racks and bulleted boards had an unapproved poster advertising a petition. The flier directs students to change.org asking them to support the school in purchasing a Stairmaster for the gym facility. 

Jordan Haikey, a freshman, began the petition and spread the fliers with a friend. Together, they go to the gym five times a week. She believes that the petition could help bring a change. 

“Sometimes I’ll go and some machines will be not working,” Haikey said. “So I feel like some of it’s a little outdated. But also, I feel like some of the machines we have I don’t ever see anybody use. So I feel like some of those things could be replaced with more of what people do use regularly.” 

Haikey began her petition to take the matter to administration. She’s gained over 100 signatures and considered talking it to former president Don Green.

“I feel like if they saw that enough people from the school actually wanted one, and there was ways the students were willing to help to get one.” Haikey said, “I think making a petition could actually help because it brings awareness and you can see how many people actually take the time to sign it and support it.” 

Leon Bann is apart of the track and field team and attends the gym every weekday. He thinks that the facility does the job but could be a little more spacious. He uses the space for personal health and track practice, if its possible, he thinks there should be a separate section for athletes.

“If there is like, multiple teams in there as well as like a lot of people,” Bann said, “I think it’s a little too small because you have like people running into each other all the time. I believe some of the treadmills could use a little bit of work, but I think that the overall like combination of, I guess getting things done. It does the job.”

Haikey agrees when it comes to how busy the gym gets. She thinks one solution could be adding more used machines and getting rid of older ones.

“Sometimes it can get really crowded and everyone’s on like the same like workout split and there’s only like one of every machine,” Haikey said. “Then it can be hard to like having to wait and then everyone’s waiting for like one thing, it can just be crowded.”

Before creating her petition Haikey did research comparing the benefits of a stairmaster to taking the stairs. “Real stairs are a lot harder on your joints,” Haikey said. “So a Stairmaster like, you can stay at a steady pace, I just think too, when you’re at the gym you feel more motivated.”

Maxwell Goode majors in business management and minors in psychology, he appreciates the Point Park athletic center. He attends the Point Park gym three times a week for track and field practice. Outside of that Goode pays for a gym membership down the road. Its hours are similar to that of Point Park’s and its more specifically for bodybuilding.

“I like to go there on my own just to have the sauna for a cool 10 to 15 minutes or hop on the stair master,” Goode said. “So whenever I can’t get in here or whenever I want to do something that I can’t do here I go over there instead.” 

According to Goode, the equipment in the middle of the gym gets the least amount of love. “I think most people kind of just want to stick with the free weights and do more squads, but like it’s hard to do them with one squat rack.” 

If the university does decide to invest in a stairmaster, Goode thinks that it would help diversify workouts.

“People like to actually like see themselves going upstairs, so I think It would really come in handy,” Goode said. “Actually, the speed and resistance, walking up a flight of stairs you can go slow, fast, skip too. It’s kind of harder to really like, get the same motions as actually going up a regular flight of stairs than like a Stairmaster.”