High School Athletic Center Gets Fundraising Boost

WOOSTER DISTRICT - The Wooster City Schools' board received a big piece of cardboard representing an actual check for $362,000 at its Tuesday evening meeting.

Presented by Scott Allen and Dave Wigham, the check reflects not only the monetary contribution, but also the work done by a committee that took on the task of private fundraising for the new Athletic Performance Center to be constructed at Wooster High School's Follis Field.

It will be a complement to the two separate field houses/​locker rooms - an east and a west building - now under construction on the site.

The funds raised by the committee were targeted as an alternate for the locker room facilities project in the form of a weight room to replace the one across Oldman Road in the Dean Davis building, adjacent to Kean Elementary School.

The sports resource committee was asked by Superintendent Michael Tefs about raising funds for the athletic complex, said Wigham, co-chairman of the committee.

"Over the last three or four months, this committee worked very hard to raise money to construct (the center)," said Wigham on behalf of committee members whom he named and to whom he expressed appreciation.

"On behalf of the board of education, and really on behalf of the students," Tefs thanked the committee for "a huge addition you have just made a reality."

Tefs said the Follis Field projects had been part of the master plan at the high school for 25 years.

"We certainly wouldn't be there without your help," Tefs said, praising their work and leadership in the community.

The base bid on the locker room project was about $1.89 million; and the "round figure" estimated for the weight room, or Athletic Performance Center, was $500,000, said Mike Foore, Wooster City Schools' manager of buildings and grounds, on Wednesday.

The check for $362,000 contributed to the district "reaches (the committee's) goal," Foore said, noting "(the) $500,000 was a big, broad number of a goal."

"What they've been able to raise is astounding on a short time frame," he said, adding, "(the) $362,000 will cover everything we have asked that they fundraise for."

"... There shouldn't be any break to (the construction) schedule," Foore emphasized, although, "Obviously, it extends the schedule."

The contractors on site won't have to leave when the locker room project is completed and then re-mobilize, Foore said, thus not adding costs to the project.

Spring sports will not be negatively impacted by continuing construction, Foore said previously.

Reporter Linda Hall can be reached at [email protected] or 330-264-1125, ext. 2230.

She is @lindahallTDR on Twitter.

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