Wake Tech adds fitness desks to boost activity

The "freshman 15" is the weight college students supposedly gain when they first move away from home.

College kids eat more calorie-heavy foods, and their study and work schedules make them less physically active, but one local campus is helping students study while they workout.

Wake Technical Community College's north campus is growing fast, including a new state-of-the-art, energy efficient library facility.

On one floor, there are plenty of books, but the college is investing in fewer volumes.

"It is not important anymore to own the materials," said Stephen Scott, Wake Tech's president. "What is important is that you have access."

For some, access through computers and tablets make the community college feel more like a university.

"It might be a community college, but it has a lot of university qualities to it," Wake Tech student Brandon Scott said.

Whether it is an old fashioned library or a new one, most of the activity is still sedentary. Now, there's an opportunity to move.

A few years ago, Stephen Scott saw Fit Desks in a magazine.

"And I said, 'You know, when we build a library, that's a pretty neat thing to have, so that people can get a little stress out while they're in the library,'" Scott said.

He said faculty members grade papers here.

Peddle power was the last thing student Brandon Scott expected to see in a library.

"I came here to study one day, and I saw that we had these bicycles," Brandon Scott said. "I was like, 'What!' It's something that keeps my heart going while I'm studying also."

Most students will still sit for hours cramming for exams or writing papers, but two people at a time can take turns improving blood flow to the brain for a better chance a higher grade.

Wake Tech's north campus does not yet have a gymnasium or other fitness facility. The college's president said he hopes to add more physical fitness opportunities to the campus.