Million dollar renovation completed at Oak Creek High School football stadium, with student help
Oak Creek High School students, with the help of a local construction company, have completed renovations to the school's football stadium.
Fifteen students, along with The Boldt Co., worked on the project. Oak Creek High School hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony May 9 to celebrate the project's completion, according to a news release.
One part of the renovation project built a new entrance to replace the old ticket booth. The new entrance has three castle pillars with dual swinging gates on either side, according to Boldt Co. project manager Adam Martin.
"Each one of those, they're actually all usable storage. There are doors on the back of them, so it's not just empty space," Martin noted.
The second part of the renovation created a new team room building in place of an old pole barn, which was razed. The new facility houses home and visitor team rooms, bathrooms, a coaches' room, referee room with bathroom, a small concessions area for Oak Creek Youth Football and two large storage areas, Martin said.
"It addressed a couple of needs for them. One, obviously having the ability to have the kids be able to stay on the field during games. That way they don't have to go inside the school to use their lockers. It provided additional storage for them, cleaned up that area," Martin said.
Martin said the crew also added asphalt around the shed students built for the track team and school's band.
The students were juniors and seniors in Oak Creek High School's Knight Construction class. During the project, they learned technical skills such as masonry and electrical work and life skills like teamwork and problem-solving. The class gives students experiential education in construction and trades, the news release said.
"This initiative not only rejuvenated the stadium for use by athletic teams, community groups and youth programs for years ahead, but it also advanced the careers of several students. Many have secured full-time positions with Boldt and other union groups, demonstrating that through this renovation project and the Knight Construction class, students built more than just structures — they laid the groundwork for promising careers," the release said.
Martin said the experience involved students from start to finish, including the early planning stages, demolition, pouring concrete, installing cement block, painting, roofing, plumbing, electrical, and putting pavers on.
"It was cool to see the kids really integrated," he said. "A lot of the guys in the field absolute(ly) loved working with the kids. They did a phenomenal job. The kids did show a lot of interest. Their engagement was rewarding to see. It was a fulfilling project from that perspective."
Matt Lonergan, technology education instructor and Knight Construction program teacher at Oak Creek High School, said many of the students haven't had as much exposure to commercial projects, as most of the hands-on work they do is residential projects.
"The students were able to get exposed to a commercial project, which has a lot of similarities but there's also a lot of differences. So just to get them that exposure was, I felt, very beneficial for the students to be exposed to that. We don't currently do much with commercial work other than talk about it and do some field trips to commercial sites. That's not really hands-on work. This was," Lonergan said in an interview.
Several of the students formally signed job offers for positions beginning after their graduation in June. Students Tegan Henderson, Adam Snead and Deklan Sobieski will specialize in carpentry with Boldt, while student Jersey Schweitzer will work as an occupational safety intern with Boldt this summer. The other eight seniors "are preparing to pursue careers in various trades," the news release said.
How the project came about
Martin, who is also the president of Oak Creek Youth Football, said the idea came from talking to Oak Creek High School athletic director Scott Holler in late fall 2022. The two were discussing where to put sponsorship banners for the upcoming season.
"Scott (Holler) had explained his displeasure for (the old pole barn) and talked about how a couple other communities had recently just built some new team room and concession buildings," Martin said. "I just jokingly said 'well, Scott, you know what I do for a living? We could do this with the kids.' And he's like 'Are you serious?' and I'm like 'Sure. Why not?'"
That conversation led to conceptual drawings and cost estimates, which were presented to the Oak Creek-Franklin School Board for review and approval. The work began in November 2023.
The project cost $1.026 million: $100,200 came from student fundraising; $75,000 from Oak Creek Youth Football; $15,000 from the Oak Creek High School marching band; $300,000 from video board advertising sales; $150,000 from a renovation fund comprising savings from previous years; and $386,247 from the district, according to Oak Creek-Franklin School District chief business and finance officer Blaise Paul.
To make the project happen, Boldt and other local subcontractors donated materials and labor, according to the news release.
Contact Alec Johnson at (262) 875-9469 or alec.johnson@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AlecJohnson12.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Students help with $1M renovation project at Oak Creek football field
