Courtesy of San Benito High School:
San Benito High School administrators, student-athletes, coaches and the Board of Trustees on Monday, Sept. 10 formally unveiled the new Physical Education and Athletic Multi-Use Field with a ribbon-cutting ceremony prior to the girls’ varsity field hockey game against Gilroy.
The 177,000-square-foot turf facility on the southwest side of campus was made possible by funds from the voter-approved Measure U bond measure, which, along with Measure G and district funds, is paying for various other facility upgrades on campus.
Superintendent Dr. Shawn Tennenbaum opened the ceremony by thanking everyone involved in making the project happen, starting with the voters without whose support “this project would not have been possible,” he said. Tennenbaum thanked Blach Construction, Verde, Aedis Designs and FieldTurf for their design and construction expertise and singled out district officials and employees, along with the Board.
“To our students, student-athletes, teachers and athletic coaches, this project provides and opportunity for you to enjoy a state-of-the-art facility to improve your physical fitness and competitive spirit each day, without fail,” Tennenbaum said. “It is with this opportunity that we embrace the gift of life-long physical fitness and good health.”
See San Benito Live video of the ceremony here. Story continues below:
Board President Steve Delay shared a message of thanks and Athletic Director Tod Thatcher thanked the Board for its continued support of Baler athletics and vision to design a facility on which “can can play field hockey today, and tomorrow, if we wanted to, we could play a varsity baseball game.” He said the field is “truly a multi-purpose facility that will benefit our P.E. students and our athletes.”
Thatcher said that on any given day after school, more than 200 student-athletes are using the facility to play and practice on a “safe, consistent playing surface … that’s consistent and playable every day of the year regardless of the weather.”
Prior to her team’s game against the Mustangs, field hockey Coach Molly Macierz expressed her thanks for “creating a space where student-athletes can test their strengths and improve their weaknesses as well as develop friendships and leadership skills that will last a lifetime.”
She said the field “is so much more than a place for safe competition, but a place that will hold memories and shared experiences.” The opening of the field for play “is a major moment in the development of our field hockey program,” Macierz said, “elevating the game of field hockey in the town of Hollister and in the Central Coast as a whole.”
After the speeches, the field hockey team cut the ceremonial ribbon to cheers and applause.
Following the ceremony, the Board went to the site of the future Science and Robotics Classrooms to do a ceremonial groundbreaking with science teachers and members of the Robotics Club. They then headed to the aquatics center and stadium site for another groundbreaking.
