Payne Center updates equipment

With the fall 2012 semester in full swing, University of Southern Mississippi students and faculty are flocking to the Payne Center to start their workouts. Recently, however, some changes have been made to sections of the Workout Zone (WOZ) on the second floor of the Payne Center.

The USM fitness center and its facilities were constructed in 1993 as the result of a student government initiative. Having such a facility was a revolutionary idea at that time.

“Once this building was created, it was one of a kind and really set a precedent around here,” said Erick Weeks, a senior communications major from Pearl, Miss.

Upon its upcoming twentieth anniversary, the Payne Center has decided to throw out the old and take in the new.

“It’s time to update,” said Frankie Cermatori, a graduate assistant from Toms River, N.J. “You want to have a recreation center as new and up-to-date as possible, because it’s almost the face of colleges, showing what kinds of lifestyles we have up here.”

Cermatori has three years of recreational center experience. Coming from East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania, he is now in charge of the Workout Zone and Wisteria Room in the Payne Center.

According to Cermatori, the school bought new treadmills for the WOZ in spring 2012 and has been replacing the old light fitness machines and resistance equipment that has been around for several years. The Precor and Body Master equipment are the oldest pieces in the WOZ aside from the free weights, but students appear to be enjoying the old and new equipment alike.

“I love this stuff,” said junior business administration major T.J. Foxx. “I typically only do cardio workouts. I don’t normally use machines, but since they got all these new ones, I’ve been hitting them up too.”

The latest equipment and services available at the Payne Center have been attracting a lot of attention, and staff members at the center seek to maintain that attention.

“We want as many people in here as possible,” Cermatori said.

Some students have asked what the university would do with the scrapped equipment.

“All of the old equipment has been donated by the university to various high schools within the Hattiesburg area,” Cermatori said. “None of it is going to waste.”

Thanks to the Payne Center’s updates, USM students and faculty have new equipment to work with this fall.