The atmosphere was electric in the St. Ignatius Bulldogs gym Oct. 9. In the band, a snare drummer nervously fiddled with his drumsticks.

The entire student body of St. Ignatius schools – seniors to first graders – lined the bleachers facing a podium and a huge screen that had the logo for the National Foundation for Governors’ Fitness Councils (NFFGFC).

They were ready to cut the ribbon on the middle school’s new Don’t Quit Fitness Center, established with help from a $100,000 grant from the foundation.

High School Principal Shawn Hendrickson introduced the organization’s chairman, Jake Steinfeld, who entered the gym and shook as many kids’ hands as he could.

The band played the school song, cheerleaders cheered, everyone clapped and sang, and the Mission High School Drum played an honor song.

Praising the school spirit and the culture, Steinfeld congratulated the students, parents, administrators and families for working together to support their community and their kids.

This celebration had its inception last spring, when Middle School PE teacher Christy Krantz noticed that three $100,000 fitness centers were being awarded in Montana by the NFFGFC, and thought her middle schoolers, who didn’t have much PE equipment, were good candidates. She drafted middle school English teacher Stacey Doll and her students to put together a video illustrating how middle school students could benefit.

Students Adley Larson, D.J. Stops and Tristan Sheridan starred in the winning video. The film was a group effort, Krantz said, with all the kids, Doll, and Hendrickson involved. The other two winning schools were Lodge Grass School in Lodge Grass and C.R. Anderson Middle School in Helena.

Before Steinfeld stepped into the gym, a group of middle school student trainers arrived from the new fitness center where they’d been learning training techniques from NFFGFC trainer John Payne.

Steinfeld began the program when Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor of California, and Coca Cola was the sponsor. His passion for exercise and war on obesity began before that with his Body by Jake fitness program and videos inspired by his own early life.

In a short speech, Steinfeld told students that when he was about 12 or 13, he was an overweight kid with a stutter. He hated to read aloud in class because he was nervous, which increased his stuttering, and kids teased him.

When he was about 13, his dad bought him a weight set. Jake began lifting weights and exercising, and he felt better, looked better, gained confidence and self esteem, and even his grades improved.

He told the kids, “Don’t quit – achieve your dreams.”

Each fitness center is financed through public/private partnerships with companies like Coca-Cola, Elevance Health Foundation and Nike, and does not rely on taxpayer dollars. Fit Supply provides all the fitness equipment.

After Steinfeld’s talk, he lined up students to try out the fitness center. The inspired kids rowed, executed sit-ups, pull-ups and pushups, rode exercise bikes, passed the medicine balls, and utilized all the other equipment, as Payne and Steinfeld circulated among the machines, correcting form and offering advice.

Now Krantz has a fantastic facility for her middle school PE classes and the larger community.

“It will be an open community fitness center,” Salish teacher Adele Martin said. “It will bring us together and make us stronger.”