State High Discusses Planned Memorial Field Renovation

posted February 9, 2019 in CommRadio, News by Brannon DeWolf

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Memorial Field, the home of State High’s Little Lions athletics, is set to receive around $13.2 million in planned renovations. The renovations come as the next phase of the State College Area School District’s plan comes to fruition.

The renovations will include upgrades to bleachers, redesigned entrances, concessions and more. The school district must choose between two project plans with differences in both time and money.

The first plan calls for construction from April of this year until February or March of 2021, with interruptions for the 2019 and 2020 fall seasons.

The second plan calls for nonstop construction from this April through August 2020 with the Little Lions losing their home field for the fall season. The second plan is both shorter and cheaper by anywhere between five and eight hundred thousand dollars, according to the project website. No State High teams will be able to use the field, however.

State College Area District Director of Athletics and lifelong resident Chris Weakland is one of the district leaders chosen to spearhead the new field renovations.

“Student athletes who play at Memorial Field do not have lockers, they don’t have showers. They have a single toilet in a room. Our visitors that come do not have locker rooms, they do not have showers,” he said.

Some community members are more skeptical of the district’s plans.

Todd Baney is the father of a middle school student that will soon be attending State High as an athlete. Baney believes $13 million price tag is unnecessary and is worried about the cost that the renovations are putting on the community.

“It looks very nice but again I’m very concerned with what we’ve already put in the field money-wise and how much more are we going to do,” Baney said.

To many State College residents, Memorial Field is more than just a place to catch some Friday night football. These renovations will bring a historic part of the community into the 21st century.

 

Brannon DeWolf is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism and political science. To contact him, email bjd5502@psu.edu.