ST. IGNATIUS — A lot of healthy habits are formed while we’re young, which makes school gym class important for kids.

Mission Middle School in St. Ignatius was given a brand new, $100,000 Fitness room to improve their Physical Education.

The gift was from the National Foundation for Governor’s Fitness Councils.

Mission P.E. teacher Christy Krantz applied for the new fitness center to expand their space for students.

There are two other gym teachers at the school, and all three share the same gym space at the same time.

The new fitness room will make the period a lot easier for Krantz and her colleagues.

“Having this extra space that we can all rotate through with the kids is really awesome,” Krantz says.

The NFGFC is an organization started by actor and fitness professional Jake Steinfeld who for the past 12 years has used it to build brand new fitness centers in schools across 42 states.

“I really think it’s important for all of us to give back,” he says. “I’ll let the Bill Gates of the world do computers — I do fitness centers.”

Steinfeld started the NFGFC because of his own experience with fitness.

As an overweight child, he was able to find confidence and self-esteem through exercise. He hopes his fitness centers will do the same for kids today.

“We’re not just talking about building bodies we’re talking about building confidence and self-esteem,” he says.

Out of 113 applicants from Montana, Mission Middle School was one of three awardees.

Krantz says the application process was long and included asking her to make a video with students, describing why they needed the center.

Despite the lengthy process, Krantz is happy she applied.

“I had the application, and I looked at it actually for like a month or so, and I kept looking at it and I was you know there’s quite a bit to it. And then I just decided we need this, and we need to take a shot and we need to try”

Adley Larson — an eighth grade student at Mission — helped Krantz with the video application. He was eager to help his fellow classmates gain access to fitness equipment.

“Not all of us have all this resource at home,” he says. “So it’d be really nice to have somewhere at school where we can be able to do this.”

The NFGFC is fully funded through sponsorships with Coca-Cola, Nike and the Elevance Health Foundation. All of their fitness equipment comes through Fit Supply.

Steinfeld reaches out to state governors to encourage local schools to apply.

Mission’s new fitness room includes a set of resistance bands and medicine balls, cardio, strength and core machines, and even monkey bars.

“I love it, it’s definitely more than what I thought it would be,” Larson says. “I’m really happy with it. I think it’s gonna be great for all of us.”

The center will be open to the public, but the official schedule hasn’t been decided.