High School Synthetic Turf Projects Find Support At Rock Bridge and Hickman
Courtesy of Columbia Daily Tribune
Written by Megan Means
September 18, 2005
Supporters of Hickman and Rock Bridge high schools predict they'll be ready by next summer to write a check for artificial turf.
Columbia Public Schools has offered to pay half the cost of resurfacing the athletic fields - estimated at more than $500,000 per school - if community donors come up with the rest. The investment is expected to increase field use to more than 300 activities per year, compared to about 30 now.
The Columbia Board of Education voted last week to allow school district officials to seek bids so that schools know exactly how much money they'll need to raise. The district expects to have its $600,000 contribution available in June.
The Bruins Booster Club, an umbrella group for all fundraising at Rock Bridge, has about $175,000 already, said club President Rodney Gray. The club hopes to secure the final dollars at its annual For the Love of the Game dinner and auction scheduled for Nov. 5.
Gray said Rock Bridge boosters collected the bulk of their savings from dinner-auctions in the past two years. He said the artificial turf project is unique because it helps multiple teams and activities.
"There's no doubt that the new field will have a tremendous benefit to the physical education program and the band program," Gray said.
The Hickman fundraising isn't as far along, so Hickman boosters plan to create a special committee dedicated to the turf project. "I have confidence the community will come through," Hickman Principal Mike Jeffers said Friday night as he watched a Kewpies football game.
Jeffers supports the change because there's not enough space around the building to add fields for sports such as soccer. He points to additional benefits, such as creating a safer outdoor space for special-needs students in physical education classes.
Hickman Booster Club Secretary Susie Adams, who was busy selling school apparel at the game Friday, said the club will support the turf fund but hasn't finalized the amount of its donation, which is likely to be less than $10,000.
Adams joked that she'd rather see the school district put air conditioning in Jefferson Junior High School, where she works, but she has no doubt that the fundraising will be successful. "I'm sure it'll be there by soccer season," she said.
Some fans at the Kewpies game said they still need time to digest the plans. Former Hickman football player Dean Benthall said he would rather play on a grass field, but he can see the appeal of a synthetic surface, "if it's good turf, not something that's going to hurt kids."
Benthall's daughter, a member of the Kewpies marching band, would benefit. The group now practices on the school parking lot before school. Sturdy, all-weather turf would let them practice on the field later in the day.
Even though he likes the old-fashioned field, Benthall believes the artificial turf will become a reality. Kewpies' pride and tradition won't stand idly by while their cross-town rival upgrades. "I don't think that would happen in Columbia," he said.
Fans at a Bruins football game Friday heard requests over the loudspeaker to help pay for a new field.
Bruins parent Leigh Leyshock, a counselor at Hickman, said she supports artificial turf because it's safer. In rainy weather, it's common for band members to slip and fall during practice. With a new field, she said, "they'll have someplace to march other than a muddy pit."
Leyshock thinks the new field is worth the cost because it would affect the quality of students' experiences. "As a parent, I think keeping kids involved in activities is key," she said.
Already, both schools' fundraising groups are looking beyond the turf and making plans for landscaping and building restrooms or pavilions to embellish the facilities.
