Perhaps her own improvement, which she attributed to the Swedish gymnastics, led her to the belief that her experience could be transferred to others. She promoted physical education outside of Smith College as well. The local high school Northampton High School experimented with the Swedish system of gymnastics under her direction in 1892. She also introduced Swedish exercise and games such as basketball to the inmates at the Northampton Lunatic Asylum. arrived at a school with well-equipped facilities. The school had recently completed the Alumnae Gymnasium in 1890, which provided some of the best facilities in the country for college women. Although the physical facilities were in fine shape, the notion that women should engage in physical exercise, much less be required to do so, was not then well-established. The prevailing atmosphere did not support the notion that women should engage in physical activity. Berenson would write, in 1894,