Dozens of Kickemuit Middle School students spent Monday afternoon stretching their quads, getting their hearts pumping and breaking a sweat as the school launched its first-ever, day-of-organized, after-school fitness program in the Angie Dolan Wellness Center.

Led by personal trainer Orlando Lugo, the owner of Complete Athlete in Bristol, the students spent an hour exercising in what school officials say will be a four-day-a-week, free program, the first of its kind in Bristol Warren.

"Just trying to get the kids in shape and guide them through," Mr. Lugo said as he set up for his first-ever group of students. "As long as you have the passion and drive to keep at it, that's all that matters."

"We're really hoping (the kids) take advantage of it," added Principal Jared Vance, a fitness enthusiast who helped get the program off the ground.

He needn't have worried. School officials didn't know how many students to expect Monday, and were surprised to see 47 file in to the gym right after the 2 p.m. bell. Mr. Lugo led the students through a series of running and stretching exercises designed to loosen them up. As the program continues, the plan is to introduce students to an expanded number of exercises utilizing not just stretching and running but also using the room's state of the art fitness equipment, rowing machines and other apparatus.

Mr. Lugo and I "share the same thought process on how to use weights and machines," Mr. Vance said. "It's less about throwing weights around and more about range of motion, flexibility and safety. He'll guide it depending on how the kids are."

The program is run in the Angie K. Dolan Wellness Center, a smaller basketball court off the main gym. It was founded in memory of Ms. Dolan, a guidance counselor at the school who succumbed to cancer in 2010 at age 39.

Ms. Dolan was a wife, mother of two and athlete who was committed to fitness. The Angie Dolan Memorial Foundation helped raise funds to purchase much of the equipment in the room, and other equipment has also been purchased or donated over they years, including rowing machines from Warren’s WaterRower. Though the center has always been used by students and teachers, the new fitness program headed by Mr. Lugo is the first organized effort to provide students with regular workouts and training. In the past, the space had been used on a more sporadic basis.

The idea for the expanded program came about after school parents and members of the Bristol Warren Education Foundation approached Mr. Vance last fall about using the center on a more active, formalized basis. They contacted Mr. Lugo, who has done some work in the elementary schools, and among them a plan was developed for Mr. Lugo to run the program with the help of teachers Connor Fagan and Jeremiah Ryan.

“I felt like the space had been under-utilized,” Mr. Vance said. “When we started talking about it we thought about what we could do for student athletes and others who might not be doing a winter sport, as a way to keep them here and engaged. I thought, ‘This is perfect.’”

Students seem enthusiastic about it as well. 

“I’ve always loved coming in here, and my mom told me you can do this’ll week now, so I wanted to do it immediately,” said Cole High.

“I need to stay in shape because I’m going to do lacrosse and field hockey,” added Sara Uhrig. “I just want to stay fit and wanted to do this when I heard about it. It’s fun.”