Schuylkill Valley School District hosted a dedication for its new stadium Oct. 19 and a ribbon cutting during the Homecoming football game on Friday, Oct. 20.
“It was a beautiful evening that we got to celebrate with our students and our fall sports teams,” said Superintendent Dr. Cindy Mierzejewski during the Friday night ribbon cutting.
On Thursday, Oct. 19, students, coaches, signboard sponsors and the community were invited to attend a dedication of the new stadium. After the program, all attendees were invited to the track Starting Line across from the concession stand. A ceremonial tape was broken and everyone ran or walked an inaugural lap on the track.
Standing on the new track holding the ceremonial ribbon included former Schuylkill Valley superintendents, school district solicitor, Rep. Barry Jozwiak, Leesport Mayor Granville W. Sandridge, Northern Berks Police Chief Brian Horner, Leesport Borough Council member Ronald Strause, Ontelaunee Township Supervisors Kenneth Stoudt and Gary Hadden, School Board members, and holding the ceremonial scissors was School Board President Kevin Raudenbush.
“As you can see, we have a great group of folks who have dedicated their time and represent the Schuylkill Valley community, all of the great people that have put in the effort and time and dedication that has been put into this for what I’ve been told over 20 years,” said Mierzejewski, who has been Schuylkill Valley Superintendent since May 2017.
After the ribbon cutting ceremony, Mierzejewski said, “I think the stadium is a great addition to an already great community. It’s going to be a wonderful hub for the community, a great gathering place. Everybody’s overjoyed. We watched the young children on it last night and it was fabulous to see.”
Raudenbush, who has served on the School Board for 11 years, said the board has been talking about renovating the stadium all of his years on the board and it had been discussed prior to that.
“It’s been at least 20 years that we’ve been talking about doing something so it’s great to see it’s finally here,” said Raudenbush. “We were one of the last schools in the county to have a cinder track. With cinder comes shin splints for the student athletes, just cinders in their shoes. It’s proven that this surface is much better for the student athletes so it was time from that perspective to get it done. But also just to have a beautiful stadium for people to enjoy is important as well.”
Northern Berks Police Chief Brian Horner was happy to join in the celebration of the newly renovated stadium.
“It’s great to see everyone here and how nice the stadium looks. It’s a big change from the old stadium to this new stadium,” said Horner. “It’s something special.”
Former Schuylkill Valley Superintendent Dr. Warren F. Mata, who retired June 30, was excited to return to see the new stadium.
“We finally figured out the funding. Working with the board, we figured out a way we could fund it without raising taxes and once we got that envisioned we let it roll,” said Mata. “I think the thing that makes me most proud is that our kids, particularly our track kids, can practice here instead of having to go to another school because of our cinder track. Replacing the cinder track was just so important.”
Mata feels the new stadium is a great benefit to the community also.
“It can be the center for our community which would be really nice,” said Mata.
“This is the community’s stadium,” said Raudenbush. “We hope they come out and use it. We hope that they care for it as we care for it. We hope they make a lot of good memories here.”
