BREAK THAT GROUND!!
Students listen to Sr. Thomas as he intorduces the School board members at the Groundbreaking Ceremony.
The upcoming construction at MHS is a huge deal to not only the administrators and students, but also to the community. Our school celebrated the start of the construction with a groundbreaking ceremony to get us all ready and excited for the things to come.
“This is a really momentous occasion. This will probably be here for your grandkids, maybe even longer… for these events I think it is important to show the symbolism for the community, for the support they have for their kids and education in general. I think it generates excitement for all of us,” Madison High School Principal Mike Bennett said.
The new construction at MHS is a big task but there is an overwhelming support from the community.
“81% [of the community] is willing to keep paying taxes for schools. That is huge. There is great support,” Assistant Superintendent Randy Lords said.
The community has put a lot into this project, mainly through taxes and bonds. We have felt a lot of support and love from the community.
“It’s a very exciting time. All of our taxes going towards this is for a good because it will be good for all the students and is definitely worth it,” Melanie Busby said.
A lot of MHS students are excited for the new and bigger additions that will be added on to the school.
“The tennis courts are exciting! I had no idea we were doing that. I think that it is really cool that they are expanding the school so it will be bigger and we will have more space. I also think it is super nice that people who play or watch sports won’t have to commute to the Jr. High anymore,” sophomore Kate Woodruff said.
After seeing the groundbreaking take place and seeing the plans for it, students are looking forward to the things to come.
“It was really exciting to see the new additions to the school starting. It is kind of sad that it won’t be done by my senior year, but I am really looking forward to see the progress during next school year,” Junior Tyler Jones said.
Seniors have mixed feelings on the new complex and facilities. Although they are happy that the students below them will be able to enjoy and compete in nicer facilities, they also wish they would have had the opportunity to do so.
“It is very exciting for the future students of MHS, and I have many friends below me that will get to participate and enjoy the new facilities. I will not lie that it hurts a little,” Senior Spencer Evans said.
Many of the teachers at MHS came out to watch the groundbreaking with their students. A lot of them were cheering when the school board members announced the plans and what was happening to the school.
“I’ve been here for about 27-28 years and ever since we’ve been here we’ve been playing football over at Ferguson Field, and I’m excited about the football stadium,” Mr. Berry said.
Mr. Wills, who coaches a lot of different sports in MHS and also has been an athletic director talked about how excited he is for this new construction.
“I’ve wanted to have athletic facilities here for a long time, so I’m very excited. I think every single thing here is going to effect a lot of students,” Mr. Wills said.
Logan Bingham has over 21 years of construction experience including trade work and project management. He works for Headwaters Construction and is one of the people in charge of the construction happening at MHS.
“Madison High School is the best high school I’ve ever seen for support. We love going to basketball and football games and all of that kind of stuff because there is so much support. We feel that same support doing the construction. Everybody is excited about it and we really do appreciate that,” Bingham said.
With construction getting ready to start, the workers are excited to break ground and make progress on the stadium and fields.
This is the groundbreaking for all the projects but more importantly the stadium and they plan on starting within 30 days and it’ll take about a year {to complete},” John Edstrom said.
While it might seem extravagant to some, the groundbreaking ceremony is a very important part of the construction.
“It just kind of symbolizes that we’re getting started,” School Board member Holly Allen said. “When we see it, [those buildings] we’re going to say ‘oh yeah, all that hard work was worth it’.”
