The New School receives $400,000 for fitness center

FAYETTEVILLE — A $ 400,000 gift will support a 1,400-square-foot fitness room for student-athletes at The New School, according to a news release sent Tuesday.

The J.B. and Rachel Blankenship family gave the gift to The New School’s Forever Campaign, Phase I campus expansion project. The New School is a private school in Fayetteville for about 420 children, from toddlers through ninth-graders. The ninth-graders will advance to 10th grade in the fall and will continue through graduation.

The Blankenship Fitness Center will be housed in a new 18,000-square-foot gymnasium that will open for the 2017-18 school year, along with a new 36,000-squarefoot academic center and a 9,000-square-foot innovation center.

“We have been members of The New School family for over 20 years, and a high school seemed like an impossible dream even a few years ago,” J.B. Blankenship said. “We are passionate about physical fitness and wanted the students to have a stateofthe- art training facility that matches the unique and exceptional academic opportunities provided at The New School.”

The New School began developing a high school with the addition of classes for ninth-graders in August. Gifts from the J.B. Hunt family and Todd and Shelley Simmons, together totaling $13 million, enabled the school to begin constructing the first phase of a campus plan. The school has raised $14.5 million of its $25 million goal for Phase I.

“The Blankenship Fitness Center will provide our students the opportunity to work with our incredible coaches to increase agility and strength,” said Dennis Chapman, president and head of school for The New School.