Formation and Transformation
Thank you to the almost 3,000 donors who gave generously to Formation and Transformation: A Campaign for North Park University.
About the Campaign
The health of a campus community is measured in part by the health of its individual members—their well-being in body, mind and spirit. But a university community is more than the sum of its individual members.
It has a life of its own, a spirit unto itself, a sense of its own well-being or unrest. And so the health of a university community is also measured by how well and how often its members interact—if they have ample room to work and to play, to stretch their minds and strengthen their bodies, to seek new adventures and let adventures seek them as well.
Formation & Transformation focused on the health of the North Park community by funding several efficient, multi-purpose athletic and recreational facilities including the Helwig Recreation Center and Holmgren Athletic Complex. Additional projects funded by Formation & Transformation included Campus Landscaping and a new parking behind Sohlberg Hall.
Helwig Recreation Center
North Park had needed bigger and better sports and fitness facilities for many years. With the purchase of an industrial building on Kedzie Avenue, North Park acquired a physically expansive site for a new recreation center. The site allowed for the construction of a 68,500-square-foot facility, which houses:
- A two-lane, 200 meter track for fitness jogging, running, walking, and track practice,
- Two basketball courts (also lined for 3 volleyball courts) for practice and recreational play,
- Synthetic turf for various varsity team practice and for indoor soccer in the winter months,
- Indoor golf and batting cages,
- A free-weight area and fitness mezzanine with treadmills, stair climbers, stationary cycles and other high-use equipment,
- Four classrooms and office space for coaches and faculty in the Exercise Science and Physical Education programs, and
- A climbing wall for physical education classes and recreation.
The Dedication Ceremony was held on September 15, 2006.
Holmgren Athletic Complex
Launched with a generous lead gift and dedicated in 2004, this complex is among North Park's most functional and heavily used facilities. The Holmgren Athletic Complex includes softball, baseball, and football fields, designed for both practice and play for both recreational and intercollegiate uses. The field features a state-of-the-art, injury-reducing artificial turf system, new bleachers, and a press box. Field lighting enables the hours of the facility to be extended, providing more flexibility in programming.
The Holmgren Athletic Complex will also include a riverside launch for crew, one of the fastest-growing sports among college students - and another great way for North Park to make use of its natural assets.
Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren and his wife Kathy (C'69), lead donors for this project, dedicated this facility at a special ceremony on Saturday, October 2, 2004, during halftime of North Park's football game.
Campus Landscaping
Soon after the library was completed, a rigorous landscaping and greenspace initiative was underway in the center of North Park's campus. The newly opened space was created by the demolition of Wallgren Library, the vacation of Spaulding Avenue as well as the alleys behind Nyvall Hall and south of Ohlson House, and the demolition of the bungalow that formerly housed business faculty. The project provided widened brick-lined pedestrian paths accompanied by new lighting and an abundance of new trees, shrubs, and ornamental grasses throughout campus. The greenspace has brought to North Park thoughtful, student-oriented concourses, a sense of privacy, and a general aesthetic appeal. We could not be more thrilled with the changes that have taken place here at North Park!