By Sumukh Venkatesh
William Curvan/ Contributing Editor
The new Highmark Center for Health, Wellness, and Athletics, open for all students starting this semester. The building is located across from Donner Ditch.
Editorials featured in the Forum section are solely the opinions of their individual authors.
Is the Highmark Center for us, or just for student athletes? That’s the question that many have about the new $105 million, 160,000 square foot building. After visiting the Highmark Center, here are my thoughts. It isn’t just for athletes, but, for the most part, it is.
After entering the Highmark Center, I was shocked by how nice the building was. It is as nice as was promised, and it is one of the most beautiful buildings on campus. It looks like a modern sports center that could be meant for the athletes for Alabama or Ohio State. The building’s focus on natural light, materials, and ventilation really makes it feel like a place you will enjoy being in on campus (as opposed to the older buildings).
It’s really nice to have a space on campus that focuses on wellness (something Carnegie Mellon was sorely lacking before) and the new Wellness Lab will surely be great for students looking for ways to improve their physical and mental health. It’s especially great that it uses Carnegie Mellon’s latest data-driven research to try to gain a more well-rounded approach to health. The new meditation, massage, and religious spaces are also really beneficial to the Carnegie Mellon community. Overall, it’s a significant step towards fostering a healthier and more supportive environment for students, encouraging them to prioritize self-care alongside their academic pursuits. The fact that we have a new interfaith religious space is also important, as it encourages spirituality and fosters discussions about important topics among students.
However, there are a lot of areas for student athletes. The fieldhouse offers a really great practice area for multiple sports, and having a dedicated area for sports such as baseball and soccer indoors will be great for the winter and offers a way for athletes to be more comfortable practicing indoors. The basketball team also gets a new “Arena”, with it being much better than the old one and offers a place for spectators to watch Carnegie Mellon basketball games. The court is really nice, and it will definitely enhance the experience for the players. The golf team also gets an indoor practice area, which is great for the team. There is also a new strength and conditioning gym being built. However, this is blocked off from us non-athletes for use. New locker rooms are also built for many of the sports teams on campus.
There are places for us non-athletes on campus, though. Highmark is an incredible place to study. There is a lot of seating, and Highmark is a mostly quiet and clean place on campus. I noticed quite a few people were studying in groups there, and if you want a good place to study on campus, I would recommend it. There is a new multi-purpose court for recreational courts. It is much nicer than the courts in the Donner Ditch and offers a place for people on the east side of campus to play basketball recreationally, with it being much closer than the next closest indoor courts in the Cohon University Center. There are also multiple meeting rooms and a new wellness garden that can be reserved for the public (or used to study when unoccupied). The new wellness garden is also a really nice place to just be in peace with nature and can be booked by groups of up to eight. There are also a few new classrooms in Highmark, however these are smaller compared to the other rooms.
One of the biggest upgrades are expanded offices for University Health Services and Counseling & Psychological Services. The new offices are great because there is more space for staff to meet with students, which will increase privacy and comfort during appointments, ultimately improving the quality of care and support available to the Carnegie Mellon community. The new offices are much nicer than the old ones in E-Tower and will hopefully allow for expanded services in the future.
One of the biggest new things in Highmark is the fact that it is home to Shake Smart, a new restaurant on campus. Shake Smart offers a wide variety of beverages and meals, which are intended to be a healthy alternative to many of the other eateries on campus. The restaurant offers organic acai bowls and smoothies. While the restaurant is meant to be healthy, I have noticed that the smoothies were a bit sweet, and the calorie count was higher than expected.
I think that the Highmark Center does a good job of creating new spaces for both athletes and students. While it would be great for more of the center to open to the public, it makes sense for these spaces to be reserved for athletes, as they need their own spaces too. Overall, the Highmark Center is a good addition on campus.