Athletic Facility Upgrades at Collinsville High School

By Mark Jurgena

The summer months mean facility upgrades to their existing infrastructure for many schools, and the Collinsville school district is no exception. There are many construction projects across the district with a couple of notable ones in the athletics department at Collinsville High School.

“This is part of our district’s facilities planning committee,” said CHS Director of Athletics Clay Smith. “Our superintendent Dr. Brad Skertich has put a major emphasis on our facilities along with our Buildings and Grounds Director Josh Dewitte. They do a great job. I’m on a committee team that is comprised of major stakeholders in the community and in the district. We’ve developed a five-year program, so to speak, it’s nice to see these improvements for our kids.”

Two noticeable ones for Kahok fans are resurfacing projects for both the tennis courts and the track.

The Collinsville tennis courts were resurfaced and painted with a purple and gray color scheme.

“I think it looks awesome!” said Smith. “It turned out great. The tennis coaches seem to like it and our girls that have been out for some contact days this summer love it.”

At Kahok Stadium, the track was the focus of the improvement plan for this summer. The surface was redone and along with that, the lane lines were redone.

“That was a much-needed improvement, it looks great!” said Smith.

The facilities inside Fletcher Gym saw some upgrades as well.

The girls locker room was completely renovated. It now includes new lockers, flooring, and a new paint job as well. Smith commented that next year the boys locker room will receive a renovation too. Plans are also in the works to improve the public restrooms as well.

“That’s just improvements at the high school,” said Smith. “I don’t know much detail about everything but I know Webster School is getting a complete overhaul, some things being done there. There are just a lot of moving parts and a lot of things going on throughout our district to improve our facilities. Our community is a great place and our schools are great places. We want to take care of them, but at the same time we want to stay up to date and have the best learning facilities for our kids.”