Northside High School celebrates grand opening of new gym

On Monday afternoon, Houston County Board of Education and the staff of Northside High School celebrated the official grand opening of the school’s new gymnasium, with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

Chairman of the Houston County Board of Education, Fred Wilson, welcomed everyone in attendance as well as expressed his appreciation for all involved in the process of building the new gym.

“Today we celebrate this beautiful facility,” Wilson said. “This shows that your pennies and tax dollars are doing great things in this county. It’s all because of the community that we are able to build such fine facilities as this one, and we can’t express our appreciation enough to them and all involved in this project.”

Wilson then introduced Superintendent of Houston County Schools Dr. Mark Scott. Scott shared that the facility is funded by the 2017-2022 ESPLOST (Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax), and overall budget was $11.7 million. The gym is 45,416 square feet, which Scott said will seat 2,130 fans. Altman Barrett Architects from Hahira, Ga., designed the facility and the construction manager was Parrish Construction Group.

“This is our third facility, and we are currently working on taking bids for Houston County High School’s competition gym,” Scott said. “We are also hoping that our next meeting to approve the addition to Veteran’s High School, which will be a multi-purpose gym. Like it has been stated before all of this would not be possible without the support of our community and the ESPLOST, and our board. It is a great day today, and we are truly excited for Northside High School.”

Concluding the ceremony was Northside High School’s principal, Dr. Jody Dean. Dean thanked his administration team as well as the board of education.

“I know I speak for the entire school in that we are excited for this new facility,” Dean said. “Our goal is to provide our students a first class experience both academically and athletically, and I think this facility helps us accomplish that mission. Since August, we have hosted volleyball tournaments in here, and before, we wouldn’t have been able to do that because of how small our old gym was. Again I thank the board of education and the community for all of their support in recognizing the need and having this facility built.”

Following the ribbon cutting, tours were given to those in attendance as well as refreshments. Dean said they are looking forward to hosting upcoming basketball and wrestling tournaments in the new gym as well.

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