Labs & Facilities

The program delivers physical fitness and training programs for Gilmour students/athletes to improve their flexibility, speed, agility and strength through individual and group sessions. Students receive expert instruction in the use of weight machines and conditioning equipment as well as tailored conditioning workouts and training programs based on the needs of the athletic teams or individual students/athletes.

 

The overall mission of this program is to build strength and flexibility in order to aid in injury prevention and the healthy growth of the student-athlete through fundamental movement and careful attention to technique and form. The program provides customized workouts based on an individual student-athlete’s abilities, strengths and weaknesses. By using a range of simplistic to complex movements through a variety of training methods, student-athletes get a fresh approach for developing their physical performance.

 

A National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) oversees the program and its facilities. The CSCS is available weekdays during the school year and throughout the summer months and is available to create custom workouts not only for the student-athletes, but for any employee of Gilmour Academy.

 

Workouts are conducted in the Gilmour Academy weight room located in the Ice Center, as well as throughout the outdoors of the 144-acre campus. Some of the more traditional equipment that can be incorporated into the workouts includes treadmills; ellipticals; endurance bikes; power racks; platforms; plyometric boxes; hammer strength equipment; medicine, BOSU and stability balls; balance discs; rubber bands; dumbbells and Universal weight machines. Some of the unorthodox training equipment includes battle ropes, tires, sledge hammers, heavy bags and a Muay Thai bag.

 

Because the program is tailored to specific individuals, athletes from all sports have the best possible opportunity to increase their performance as it applies to their specific sport.

Visit The Lorraine & Bill Dodero Center for the Performing Arts web page for details.

Before it was a school, Gilmour Academy’s 144-acre campus was originally part of the Drury family’s property called Cedar Hill Farm. View historical photos from the 1930s. Our 2,500-square-foot garden offers students the opportunity to get their hands dirty and get in touch with Gilmour’s ‘roots!’

 

Lower School classroom gardeners will grow starter plants for the Giving Garden, manage the habitat for local pollinators, including bees and monarch butterflies, and create solutions for low-lying wet areas around campus with rain gardens. Upper School students will run the “Giving Garden,” which will grow fresh vegetables to be donated to local food pantries to help alleviate food deserts in Cleveland.

 

Twelve raised beds and six elevated planters will engage students in out-of-the-box, hands-on learning through interdisciplinary-minded plantings (e.g. dyes for art and Three Sisters for history), scientific investigation opportunities and potential research collaborations with local institutions.

The greenhouse lies nestled near the Lower School, the home base for a variety of garden activities. Potting soil and seeds provide starters for the Giving Garden and greens for the chickens. Students help plant the raised beds, which grow vegetables to be distributed to surrounding communities in need of fresh produce. The building also houses all things needed for beekeeping, such as protective gear and hive box necessities. It is also a field station full of science equipment for nature exploration, including microscopes, magnifiers, field guides and water and soil testing kits and tools.

Another Cedar Hill Farm Project, students at the Lower School will tend to the Gilmour Girls—a coop of heritage breed hens—with the hope of gathering their colorful eggs (blue, brown and green) and perhaps learning a bit about animal husbandry and the value of retaining genetic diversity in domesticated animals.

Busy hives of Italian bees provide pollinators for the Giving Garden and beyond, as well as golden honey for everyone's enjoyment. The newly planted Pollinator Garden will support these and other important local native pollinators as well.

The third graders raise rainbow trout in their classrooms. They are responsible for testing the water chemistry daily, cleaning the tank weekly and feeding the trout. The class releases the fish into the Chagrin River, their natural habitat, in the spring.