At West Aurora’s Board of Education Meeting held March 2, the Blackhawk Sports Boosters announced their pledge of $250,000 towards the West Aurora Stadium Complex Modernization. The pledge comes as a response to an anonymous $250,000 challenge grant for the project and will require fundraising on behalf of the group. The remaining resources will come from the school district’s local dollars and other revenue streams.
The West Aurora Blackhawk Sports Boosters consist of parent and community volunteers who strive to promote school spirit and pride. They take an active role in making the West Aurora High School athletic programs, along with the middle school programs, memorable experiences for their athletes and fans. The boosters are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year, having donated more than $2,000,000 to equip, train, and care for West Aurora High School student-athletes through fundraising activities done by family, friends, and community volunteers.
Thanks to the generosity of their donors, the “Field of Dreams” campaign in 2010 saw the successful installation of the field turf that today, continues to serve school district athletics, the marching band, school clubs, and community programs. With the 2019 installation of a high-tech, digital replay scoreboard, the stadium is further primed for modernization. New upgrades will begin with the modernization of the original 1926 stadium structure and its amenities, most of which are 50 to 70 years old. They will include:
New bleacher seating, pressbox enhancements, modernized restrooms, new exterior graphics.
Subsequent renovations to the complex will include: A formal gateway entrance, a ticket booth, a new concession stand, a visitor’s gateway entrance, a new visitor restroom structure, new black wrought iron fencing, new public walkways, murals on the adjacent school building, commemorative brick pavers.
“The West Aurora Blackhawk Sports Boosters have enabled the athletic success of one of the finest overall athletic programs in the State,” said Roger Curless, finance chair for the Boosters. “The excellence of that program deserves the finest facilities for competition and fan support. The modernization of the stadium complex will give the West Aurora athletes and fans facilities that will support the tradition of excellence that has been the earmark of West Aurora.”
Blackhawk Sports Booster president, Jody Jankovsky, added, “We are excited to participate in the modernization of the West Aurora Stadium Complex. The upgrades will transform the stadium, elevating its image to a premiere location for high school athletics in the area and state. We are confident that the West Aurora community feels the same way and will support us in reaching our goal of raising $250,000 for the project.”
For more information about the West Aurora Blackhawk Sports Boosters, or how to get involved with this project, visit blackhawksportsboosters.org.
—West Aurora School District 129