SEAN BOSTON
Hutch Post
PRETTY PRAIRIE, Kan. — Pretty Prairie USD 311 held a beam signing ceremony on Tuesday for its middle school gym expansion project.
The students and staff members from the grade school, middle school and high school all participated in the signing of the beam, something that USD 311 superintendent Ashley Anderson said was important to her and the school board.
"It was very important," Anderson said. "We wanted to make sure that if they ever choose to play sports or anything like that that, their name was on it. So we made sure we got everyone over here today."
While most new projects hold a groundbreaking, USD 311 decided to have students and staff members sign the beam to be remembered for many years to come.
"We wanted to do something different," Anderson said. "We knew we didn't want to do a groundbreaking, and we knew these beams were going to be huge, so someone said 'wouldn't it be cool before they put those up, everybody signed it?' so it was like yeah, that would be cool, so we just kind of ran with it and here we are."
The school board, which met on Monday night was also able to sign their names.
"They all came out between our budget hearing and our regular board meeting and signed their names too," Anderson said.
The roughly 9,800-pound beam will be hoisted in the air, and secured into the structure on Thursday with hundreds of signatures in black Sharpie.
"We'll have close to 300 or maybe a little bit more," Anderson said. "We're just signing the top part of the beam, because all the other sides will be painted once it's put into place. We'll all know all of the names are up there even though we won't be able to see it."
High school boys basketball coach Matt Goering is looking forward to practicing in the gym next school year.
"Our seniors this year are a little disappointed that they won't get to use it," Goering said. "The classes below them though are really excited for it."
Unlike the old gymnasium, the new gym will have air conditioning, something the staff is looking forward to.
"We have been struggling in the heat of this old gym," high school volleyball coach Lori Young said. "Once it gets finished and the girls get that opportunity to have so much more room and space. It will also be nice to be able to host some tournaments and postseason play, which we weren't able to do so in the past."
The new gym will provide the opportunity for the volleyball team to have two courts set up, rather than just the one in the old gym.
"It's going to be amazing," Young said. "Practice will go much more smoothly with all of the extra space we'll have. Just knowing in the future that we'll have the opportunity to do more drills and all will be nice."
Middle school volleyball coach Kaylee Goering is also looking forward to the two nets available in the gym.
"Having two nets and two courts, especially when we've got a bigger team will be huge," Goering said. "We'll be able to get through drills a lot faster and less standing in line. It'll also be an opportunity to possibly having two games going at the same time."
The process has been long to make this project happen, but Anderson is looking forward to the finished product.
"We are all just really excited about it," Anderson said. "It's something that is super exciting that everyone is ready for. Last week we got pictures of what it's going to look like inside, so everyone has been really happy and excited about that."
The gymnasium is scheduled to be finished by September 2025, but could be as early as July or as late as October of next year, depending on weather and supply availability.
