Ground broken for $5.9 million improvement project
Last September the voters in the Onaway school district approved a $5.9 million bond to be used for additions and remodeling of current school facilities and Monday the project got underway with school officials breaking ground.
From that time the measure was approved, until now, many things have happened. Architect, Wakely and Associates hired, and blueprints drawn. As the plan developed changes were made to those blue prints. Construction management firm Wolgast Corporation was hired, developing a budget for and creating the documents that contractors used to bid on the project. Bids were accepted and awarded after post-bid interviews with construction started last Monday.
?It?s been some 40 years since the voters of our district approved a construction project. And it would not have happened without the dedication and hard work of countless citizens, our board of education and our fine staff,? said superintendent Bob Szymoniak, introducing the guests on the lawn of the school complex. ?On behalf of today?s and tomorrow?s students, thank you.?
One of the guests, former superintendent Dr. Rick Farfsing said when he accepted the job, he wandered around the community and asked people what the school needed, ?what do we need?? ?One thing seemed to come out loud and clear from everybody that I touched base with.? he said ?We need to make improvements to our building, but the community won?t support it.?
?By the time I got done, I tended to agree 50 percent to what they said. We need to make improvements to the building. I found out they were totally wrong on the other. The public will support it.?
Sue Nelson, board of education president, spoke next. ?Today represents another step towards new improved opportunity for the youth here in our community. Thank you for supporting our school, but most importantly, thank you for supporting our youth.?
Szymoniak said, ?Neil Whitsitt was a man who cared deeply about the educational system in our area. Today we celebrate the circle of life in that Neil?s son Jeff is following in his dad?s footsteps. Jeff Whitsitt has been a board member for a long time.?
?The road we have traveled to get to this time and place today presented many challenges. And I came to appreciate my dad?s stories about the challenges involved in working on a school bond issue,? said Whitsitt.
?In the course of my travels on the bond issue I talked to many groups and individuals and I assured them we had assembled a young, cable, and articulate administrative team that was willing to drag this school district into the future kicking and screaming.? Whitsitt told a story of when he was a junior in high school student back in 1964, driving to school, parking next to a light pole in a gravel parking lot. He was driving a 1964 fire engine re Studebaker pick-up, it had a two barrel carburetor, V-8, three speed on the column, AM radio, and a vinyl bench seat.
?I?m here to tell you it was one sharp pick-up,? said Whitsitt. He walked up a new sidewalk and entered the new Onaway High School, a point of pride for the whole community, he said.
Last fall, a not so young man, drove up the south drive, dodging pot-holes, and parked by the same light pole. He was driving a half-ton pick-up, 2002, rusty red in color. It had a five liter V-8, AM/FM CD stereo, bucket seats, shift on the fly, four-wheel drive, with an extended cab. ?I?m here to tell you it?s a sweet vehicle,? said Whitsitt. He walked up the same sidewalk, now cracked and weathered.
?The message we took to the voters last fall, ?it was time to trade in the Studebaker,?? said Whitsitt. Szymoniak introduced Michelle Ellenberger, high school student council president. ?On behalf of the students on OHS I would like to thank the community for making all this possible. None of this would be happening without you. It?s going to rock, man,? said Ellenberger.
Presque Isle commissioners Bob Schell and Allan Bruder talked about the importance of the project. ?Jeff (Whitsitt) talked about when he came with his Studebaker, I remember that quite well, I was in the kinde
?I think this groundbreaking and remodeling of the school is long overdue,? said Bruder. ?You just can?t keep driving an old vehicle, sooner or later it costs you a lot of money, and it?s not working quite as good as it did before.? Schell said, ?The tax payers of the Onaway School District have made sacrifices to support this school. They have been willing to make these sacrifices because they realize how important giving our children a quality education, and a first rate facility, is.? A letter of congratulations from Sen. Jason Allen was read by seventh grade student Grant Malone.
A special thanks went to students Chelsea Grieve, Katie Webster, Michelle Ellenberger, Maggie Coats and Heather Nolde, for organizing the groundbreaking event, and making presentations to inform the student body.