Benny Westcott
The final touches on a gym renovation project largely completed in September 2020 were made Tuesday, Oct. 12, in the form of new bleachers at Sweet Home Junior High School.
The red retractable bleachers, which feature “Sweet Home” in black lettering, are just one more piece adding on to a fuller $11.8 million school renovation project completed in the fall of 2020, according to school district business manager Kevin Strong. That project included adding a regulation sized gym instead of a small auxiliary gym, adding a cafeteria/learning commons area, and remodeling the library/media center, along with many other improvements.
The district still looks toward making positive changes at the school; currently, “short-throw” projectors are being installed in all of the classrooms.
“We were very pleased with the outcome,” Strong said. “Prior to the renovation, the school was definitely showing its age. We are hopeful now that it’s going to be a great learning environment for kids for decades to come.”
The gymnasium’s bleachers had been “held up for quite a while” due to shipping and manufacturing issues, said district operations manager Josh Darwood. They were manufactured by Interkal, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, and installed by Portland-based Northwest School Equipment. Their full cost, including installation, was $51,915.
“We kind of held off on the bleachers, waiting to make sure we were within budget on the total project,” Strong said, noting that the district paid for them with interest earnings on bond proceeds. “Really, we wanted to match the school colors of red and black, [and to] have it complement the other colors in the new gym. The gym’s in great shape. We are excited to see it be used.”
That space has seen its share of action this season, hosting seventh- and eighth-grade volleyball games, physical education classes and high school basketball open sessions.
Athletic director Craig Wilson said the gym “looks excellent. I couldn’t be happier. We’re looking forward to getting more use of it with future events.”
Currently, the seventh-grade volleyball team is 2-0, while the eighth-graders are 1-1. The seventh-grade football team is 1-2, while the eighth-graders are 0-3.
Young athletes nevertheless contend with pandemic-produced challenges. A positive COVID-19 case in the football program triggered quarantines for both seventh- and eighth-grade squads, from Wednesday, Oct. 13, to Friday, Oct. 22. Wilson noted that the players work in close quarters during practice and that both teams share a locker room. Both volleyball teams also recently underwent quarantining protocol, the result of a player testing positive for the coronavirus and potentially exposing members of both squads in their shared practices.
Wilson outlined other struggles, such as “getting opponents here, lack of bus drivers, some leg work needed to communicate between other athletic directors and other school officials, and a shortage of officials for both football and volleyball.” A volleyball game, he said, can feasibly be run without officials (coaches can do it in a pinch), but a football game requires them due to the sport’s relative complexity.
Despite these hurdles, he considers the fall sports season a success.
“Kids are out participating and interacting,” he said. “They missed the social interaction. It’s a blessing to get that back.”