Tech’s Burnett Fitness And Rec Center Named A 2021 Outstanding Facility

Tennessee Tech’s Marc L. Burnett Fitness and Recreation Center was named one of 2021’s Outstanding Facilities by the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA).

Also known as “The Burn” to students, the center was built in 2020. Coordinator of University Recreation and Intramurals Les Fralix said it’s home to every kind of recreation activity imaginable from weightlifting to a golf simulator, to a climbing wall.

“Obviously mental wellbeing and holistic wellness and everything is very important to us as a campus,” Fralix said. “And it’s one of our biggest initiatives. So having a place where they can find something, they can come meet people, and they can come and take a break from everyday life and classes and tests and everything else”

Fralix said that it’s validating to have the university’s commitment to students’ health and wellbeing recognized on a national level. She said that the recognition is just a culmination of work or many people involved in the process of creating the new center.

“The concept of getting a new center started way back before I even actually stared at Tech like in 2013-2014,” Fralix said. “And to see what all those SGA members and everyone voted on, to see it come to fruition and it actually to be built and have people come it just validates that Tennessee Tech is about the students. It’s about building something that is going t meet their needs and create a space where they can destress and just take a breath away from college life.”