Powell senior Joyce Butler had gone all of her life never entering a weight room until just a few months ago.

Now, the twice-weekly trips to the Northwest College gym facility are part of her and more than two dozen other local seniors’ weekly routine. And, through May 9 the Tuesday and Thursday morning classes included a variety of college athletes happy to help the seniors.

One of those volunteer athletes, sophomore women’s soccer player Audette Rodolph from Stevensville, Montana, said she decided to help out after going to the gym one day and seeing a couple of basketball players working with seniors.

She figured she had the time to help too, and seeing the improvement seniors have made over the last few months has been more than worth the effort.

“We've had a lot of people that started out and couldn't even bend over to reach something that they had dropped on the ground,” she said. “And now half of them are able to sit on the ground by themselves and get all the way back up by themselves. And the ones that weren't able to bend down and pick things up can do that. And so it's pretty awesome that we've seen just a lot of functional progress in everyday life, too.”

The class is made possible by a grant to lower the fall risk and improve wellness and mobility for seniors.

Jacob Price, who started overseeing the NWC gym facility just before the program started, said while it took some time to get used to helping run it, it’s become a fun part of the week for him.

“I was nervous but you know, they're excited to be here,” Price said of the seniors, noting that they’re often easier to teach than young athletes. “They love it. It's like a huge part of their day.”

He was the reason the first classes had a couple of basketball volunteers to help seniors — as the assistant men’s basketball coach, they were the first people he thought of, although by the end of the semester he said athletes from every team have helped out.

“It’s wonderful,” Butler said. “This community is so supportive and loving.”

The program started via a state grant and a program in Cody was started by Cody gym owner Deb White. When a program in Casper fell through, NWC trustee R.J. Kost helped bring the program to Powell.

“It's been really fun,” NWC President Lisa Watson said. “There’s a lot of senior citizens in there having a great time, and our students are helping.”

Rodolph said the big ways she and the other athletes help are in counting reps and, most importantly, making sure the seniors are using proper form.

“It's really trying to prevent any injuries that could potentially be like life threatening,” Price said. “We're working on some of those muscles that might have atrophied over years, decades, and reinforce balance.”

Rodolph was so impressed with the program that she planned to see is if her Montana hometown could do something similar.

“I've thought about like, ‘oh my gosh, I wonder if we can get a program like this started at home,’ because we actually have a senior center that's not too far down the road, so I’d feel great if we get something like this started at home too,” she said. “So it has been actually really encouraging, and my grandma has asked me if I can help her too.”