December 17, 2015 (More Photos on Facebook) - A ribbon cutting was held Monday, December 14th for the newly renovated Center Middle School Gym. Board member Daphne LaRock cut the ribbon held by students and everyone gave a loud round of applause before entering the building. The gym was built in 1942 and the front section was added in 1974.
James Greer, Center ISD School Board President, greeted everyone at the ribbon cutting saying, "Man, this has been a long time coming and I know that the people who went to school here years ago and have been involved with this gym, I know they are going to be amazed when they walk in there. We are excited about what we've done, as far as the renovations of the middle school gym, I think y'all are really going to be excited when y'all go in."
Greer acknowledged school board members present Daphne LaRock, Sharon Nelson, Stephen Shires, Traci Willoughby, and John Henry Holloway. He also gave recognition to Superintendent James Hockenberry, Principal Jake Henson and Assistant Principal Felicia Cloudy, and coaching staff. Last he also recognized general contractors and engineers who worked on the project and gave praise for a job well done saying, "This building has been here a long time but this is probably a pretty good testament to the fact that you can take something old and with a little bit of work and construction and redoing and some good folks to work with, you can really change it into a great facility and I think that is what y'all are going to see when you walk in."
He continued giving thanks to those who have helped bring the project to fruition, "We want to thank a couple of people or groups. We want to thank the previous school board who was forward thinking in sort of putting some cash in the bank so that it could be used ultimately to improve many things here in our school district. And the present school board, I guess maybe progressively, was thinking that we could take some old things and try to redo. And again I think y'all are going to be very please when you walk in there. The quality of work is amazing. The first thing I noticed when I walked in, it smells new and that's a good thing."
Greer ended saying, "We appreciate everyone that came, we appreciate the community, we appreciate the students and the athletes, and of course the administration and the school board members here too. I can assure you that it will be used a lot not only by the athletes but in academic type work and community activities. And we are going to utilize this daily."
There were four basketball games played inside the newly renovated gym Monday evening.
MS Basketball coaches: (from left) Jeffy Harvey, Brandon Ganske, Erin Mosely, Abby Thornton, Athletic Director - Barry Bowman, Kerry Bryan (Not pictured) Donna Shannon, Fleashia Ford, and Kellan Carrell.
