The Ashland Rec Center now has a new way of keeping students and community members up-to-date on what is going on in the facility.

The Rec Center has a new app that allows subscribers to plan out when they would attend the center, depending on what they are looking to do, by showing a count of an area that is updated every half hour and sign up for Group X classes.

Assistant director of programs, Krista Chauvin, said that the idea for the app came from aquatics director Justin Fletcher in a meeting before the spring semester.

“He came in and presented the idea and it all sounded great,” said Chauvin. “We’re encouraged so far by the feedback we’ve been getting from students and faculty alike.”

Chauvin likes how the app makes signing up for GroupX classes and inviting friends to join easier.

“All you do is pull up the app and register for the class,” said Chauvin. “Then it can ask you if want to invite a friend, and you just add the person you want to invite and it will send them a confirmation email.”

According to Fletcher, the idea came for the app came from a website developed by an old graduate student he knew from his days at Rowan University in New Jersey.

“He actually came up with the app as a business venture,” said Fletcher. “He has over a dozen schools now that subscribe to the app.”

The app, known as fitDEGREE, was developed to help recreation centers keep track of how many people were using the facility and to find a more effective way to keep members connected in a way that had never been done before.

The AU version of the app is known as ‘AU Rec Center’ and is in a trial period to test its effectiveness and if management ultimately wants to keep it going forward in the future.

Chauvin hopes that they decide to keep it in the future.

“It’s made things that much easier to keep track of thus far,” said Chauvin. “I hope we can continue to use it into the foreseeable future.”

The app is right now at 445 subscribers and is expected to continue to grow as it gains more traction among students and other members.