Improves student experience, school officials say
By Scott Bellile
Hortonville High School Principal Thomas Ellenbecker described the vision as a “dream” and a “fantasy,” but after three years of planning, it is a reality: Students have an artificial turf field and an upgraded athletic stadium.
The Hortonville Area School District officially opened Wolf River Community Bank Stadium to the public with a daylong celebration Friday, Aug. 17. Activities included an afternoon ribbon cutting, boys’ soccer scrimmage against Freedom, tailgating party, football game against Appleton West High School and a fireworks show.
The overhaul was designed by Blue Design Group of Hortonville and carried out by local contractors between April and August. Amenities besides the artificial turf include an expanded concessions and restroom building, larger bleachers, new lighting and scoreboard and a cosmetically updated entrance.
The $3.5 million renovation of Akin Field was financed through a mixture of tax dollars – $1.2 million authorized by the Hortonville School Board – and private and corporate donations, including a 20-year, $200,000 naming agreement with Wolf River Community Bank.
Superintendent Todd Timm thanked the school board, donors and organizers behind the project, saying the revamped facility will benefit the HASD student body and the community.
“We’ve been worried the past couple years about the current facility,” Timm said. “The playing surface did not allow our youngest learners to use the facility. The amount of contests created an unsafe and unlevel playing surface. Our band could not practice marching to get their spots if different painting was needed for soccer or football events. The electric paneling could not be replaced on the scoreboard and on some of the lights. Not to mention if you came here on a Friday evening, it was tough to get concessions or find a restroom available.”
Ellenbecker said the success of Wolf River Community Stadium illustrates what can happen when a community comes together to help youth.
“Whether it’s a band that now for the first time will have a surface that can withstand and maintain the wear and tear over the marching the season, if it’s our soccer, our football or dance team who’s going to finally be able to compete on a state-of-the-art surface, or middle school or youth athletic programs who are just now learning skills and are going to be able to learn on a facility that is conducive to those teachings, this facility will ensure it happens in a top-notch way,” Ellenbecker said.
Andy Kolosso, athletic director for HHS, said the former playing surface could get as hard as concrete after rain and cold weather, which sometimes led to injuries when athletes fell. The artificial turf is softer than grass.
“We’ve been practicing on this since the first day of practice [this sports season]. “We haven’t had any significant injuries at this point,” Kolosso said.
Willard Griesbach, a school board member who voted for the upgrade, watched the boys’ soccer team scrimmage from the stands. He said Akin Field is drastically different from when he graduated from HHS in 1960.
Griesbach recalled how when he was in high school, the football team played afternoon games because Akin Field lacked lighting until the 1960s. The field could get swampy after rainfalls, he said, and students sometimes spent gym classes picking stones off the field while school board members hauled them away in tractors.
He was impressed with what he saw last week.
“It’s so great just to walk out on that turf, and the field’s so soft,” Griesbach said. “I think it’s great that it can help out the students with their needs … and it looks wonderful.”