Graham Athletics & Wellness Center
Amplifying Athletics and Wellness
We can already imagine how new facilities for athletics and wellness will combine physical education, health and training to promote fitness and healthy choices. In the new William A. Graham IV OPC '58 Athletics & Wellness Center — the Graham opened in September 2021 — we fortify the PC athletic legacy, cheer the Quakers, and gather to celebrate all-school traditions.
The complete vision for PC athletics began with the first project in the campus transformation: construction of a new baseball field on the newly purchased property on Strawbridge Campus. Ralph F. Palaia Field was completed in spring 2019. The new complex provides synergy between the athletics facilities on both sides of School House Lane.
The new 88,000-square-foot Graham Athletics & Wellness Center includes:
- Fitness center and cardio center, training room, hydrotherapy, nutrition center
- Wrestling room, basketball courts for team practice and PE program (the courts convert to competition courts)
- Climbing wall
- Multipurpose room, classroom space, student and coach lockers, meeting spaces
- OPC Rail of Recognition and storytelling display of PC traditions
- Safe, direct access to track / Maguire Stadium Field / Strawbridge Campus / Palaia Field
- Storm water management features, nature landscape
The campus master planning project determined that the very best place to build the new lower school now, as well as for the future development of our 47-acre campus, is on the site of the current field house. Moving the functions of the field house to the new Athletics & Wellness Center adjacent to Maguire Stadium Field creates the opportunity to build the lower school in the best location — and create a vibrant, collective Academic Village.
A new view of campus from School House Lane, with Graham Athletics & Wellness on the left, the main academic building in the center, and the David L. Kurtz Center for the Performing Arts on the right presents a unified front line representing the ongoing vision and new expression of academics, arts and athletics.
Campaign Update: So Near, So Clear
Athletics and Wellness Stories
The William A. Graham IV OPC ’58 Athletics & Wellness Center is a vibrant 88,000-square-foot facility that amplifies athletics and wellness.
This year, two OPC classes announced major collaborative gifts to the How Far? campaign that will directly support Penn Charter’s campus transformation.
Jacob A. Shipon's three children and eight grandchildren name the new athletic training space in his memory.