Last spring, Fair Grove experienced intense storms that resulted in a lot of damage on the school’s campus. This summer of 2024 and through the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, the school has been working to replace and fix the damages.
The school has not experienced this level of damage since the storm, a derecho, not a tornado, in 2008. The 2008 storm might have caused more damage than the one last spring, but the district is still seeing the recovery from the most recent storms into this school year.
The items that were replaced and fixed were: a new back stop system at the softball field, home dugout repair at the softball field, two new bleacher sets for the softball field, high jump mat system, pole vault mat system, new football goal posts, new football LED lighting, football and soccer scoreboards reset in concrete, lighting at the baseball and softball fields reset in concrete, three HVAC units, roof damage, and some other hail damage.
Damon Seiger, Fair Grove’s Athletic Director and the High Schools’ Assistant Principal, stated, “Overall it was a big undertaking of fixing or replacing throughout summer months.” After filing with insurance, Sieger said that the school began to start ordering and replacing what had been damaged. Most of the construction that was needed was done in the summer months before school began, but some repairs, like the football field light poles and softball field repairs, carried into the start of the school year.
Lindsay Martin, High School Girls Track Coach and Middle School Science Teacher, is excited for the track and field team to receive equipment upgrades. Although the storm damage was unfortunate, many programs are seeing some much needed improvements. Martin stated, “I am super excited for my athletes to get to have nice equipment to practice on and for our home meet competitions as well.”
It has been ten or more years since the track and field team has seen upgrades to their equipment. Martin said that her athletes are excited and ready for the new equipment and upgrades they’ve received for the new season.
Brenna Boatwright (11) is a softball player who is happy that the field finally got some much needed upgrades. She stated, “The upgrades to the backstop, dugout, and bleachers were very much needed and a nice upgrade to our field.”
Although the storm damage was hefty, a lot of Fair Grove’s athletic programs received some much needed upgrades and equipment repair.
