Whittier Community Center to celebrate centennial with alumni reunion

By Ashley Zarate

April 25, 2008 | LOGAN -- The playground in the back yard of the Whittier Community Center has seen a lot in the last 100 years. The swings look sad and broken, but that's all about to change.

This staple of the Logan community celebrates its 100th anniversary this month. In the wake of 100 years of serving its community, the Whittier Center will see a centennial alumni reunion and the construction of a brand new state of the art playground.

Over 1,000 children and adults visit the Whittier Center weekly. It offers an array of activities from Inishfre Irish dance and pilates to ballet and yoga. Even with the different classes available to students at the university, many opt to take those same classes from the Whittier Center. Katie Gaz, a junior studying journalism at Utah State, enjoys the yoga classes offered at the center.

"I love the setting the Whittier Center offers," Gaz said. "The whole 'old building meets modern ideology' has always drawn me in. It is the perfect place to relax for me and it's by far the best discovery I have made in Logan."

Many prominent Utah citizens started out at the Whittier Center and have made a name for themselves in their adult lives. Both Rocky Anderson, former mayor of Salt Lake City, and Logan Mayor Randy Watts are Whittier school alumni. Watts attended the school from first through third grade and said he believes a reason it is so memorable is because of the difference the student teachers made.

"We used to call ourselves the guinea pigs because the school was meant for the student teachers to practice on us kids," Watts said. "We knew we were experiencing a way of learning that other kids at regular public schools didn't get. We liked that, it gave us bragging rights."

The Whittier Community Center started out as a training school known for using ground-breaking educational techniques. Watts said the students from the nearby university would do their student teaching there with kids from the community. The classes were personal and hands on, making the school seem more like a private school than a training school.

The centennial alumni reunion will be held June 7, and the center is expecting a great turnout. Kendall Andelin, the executive director of the center, said the school has great alumni that he expects will participate in the festivities.

"We were a school into the '60s but I think we will get a decent turn out," Andelin said. "There's a lot of pride among the alumni here. Which is weird to a grade school, but I think that's because it was so unique. That in turn has left us with an alumni base that is really well educated and full of fairly influential people."

Not much has changed with the building except for the expected upgrades with electricity, restoration and paint. Andelin said the center is in great shape and he has no worries about it wearing down any time soon.

"There was minor restoration done in 1992, but as far as the building goes, it's as sound as the day it was built," Andelin said. "We plan on keeping it up and expect to be here for another 100 years."

Watts said he enjoys walking through the center and remembering scenes from his childhood there.

"Nothing has changed. I walk in and I'm flooded with memories," Watts said. "It's hard to zero in on those memories, but the familiarity is inescapable."

The future is nothing but bright for the Whittier Center, and Andelin said the new adventure playground will be beneficial to everyone in the community. The playground is 100 percent accessible for all children, even those with disabilities. Every area has an access point for wheelchairs, but doesn't cut out the fun.

"We have worked long and hard on this project," Andelin said. "We talked to parents, kids and teachers to get input on what is best. It's more than creating a park that kids in wheelchairs can enjoy; it's about bringing all children together to play."

The center is still prepping for the six long days of construction in September that will give birth to the new playground. They urge everyone to volunteer, even if they don't have any labor skills. Andelin said they need people from every aspect of the playground and he hopes this will give the community a sense of ownership that only volunteering provides.

"This center is historical," Andelin said. "The new adventure playground will bring out the best in the community. Volunteers will be invested in it and children won't be the only ones that will benefit. I think it will draw people from all over Cache Valley."

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