The School Newspaper of Harriton High School

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The School Newspaper of Harriton High School

The Harriton Banner

The School Newspaper of Harriton High School

The Harriton Banner

Harriton Athletics’ New Home

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(Jake Neville/The Harriton Banner)

A month has gone by in the new school and by now everyone has gotten used to the new surroundings. The slightly odd contour and direction of the hallways have been deciphered and most of the students have gotten their heads around the idea of not going outside between classes. Mostly everyone is impressed by the new improvements (whether or not some of us are biased to the old school), but let’s take a look at the improvements in the athletics department at Harriton.

To start, the three brand new gyms are great enhancements that affect everyone’s gym class. P.E. and Health Teacher Todd Curyto commented: “The number of spaces (gyms, fitness, spinning room) that we have should allow us to provide the students with more options throughout the year.  In most classes students will have three options to choose from, for instance: Pilates, badminton, and Tchoukball.  In doing this, students will be exposed to many new activities and will hopefully enjoy even more their physical activity experience.“

The Performance gym, the largest of the three gyms and also the new location for all-school assemblies is 120 by 135 (over 16000 square feet) and seats about 1550 people. Although the Performance gym is the gym most used for gym classes, having two other gyms, along with the track and football field, which is now much more accessible because its much closer to the school, makes the large, multi-class/multi-teacher, gym periods much easier to run and gives many more choices for the students. The gyms will be used in the future for tournaments and competitions. One tournament has already been planned, a basketball tournament which will take place over winter break.

ool has also been helpful and has made things much more convenient, not only for gym classes, but for many students who are involved in sports.  Sophomore student-athlete Allison McLaughlin had this to say, “The new facilities are much closer to the fields than in previous years, which makes it much easier to use the locker rooms and still get to practice on time.  Since tardiness was a serious issue on my teams last year, this is a great improvement.”

Another big improvement is the new weight room.  Compared to that of the old school, this school’s weight room is nearly twice the size of the old one and now has 3 treadmills and 4 ellipticals.  It also includes more benches, curl benches, Olympic power racks, dumbbells, new barbells and weight plates and some more accessories.  Sophomore Football Player Zander Levit commented on the new weight room, “[The new weight room] has a lot of nice new equipment and that is really helping me and the rest of the team get bigger and stronger and ready for game day.  When the new facilities were designed, they really had the students using it in mind.”

Of course many of the Harriton coaches have already been impressed by the new facilities.  Head Basketball Coach Jesse Rappaport said this, “I think it’s unbelievable.  I think it’s like a college facility.  I never thought I would coach high school basketball in a facility that’s this beautiful.  It boosts the moral of the team, it boosts the pride, and the improved surroundings have also improved training, for example the new weight room has greatly improved the lifting system.”  Nearly all of the coaches have already taken advantage of improved weight room, locker room and gyms, and anyone who hasn’t is waiting for the season to start so they can take full advantage of them.

So we have new locker rooms, and new weight room, three new gyms, a spinning room, and a school that’s much closer to the track and stadium, but what about all of those fields that used to be here before the construction project began?  Well, here’s the breakdown on what’s going to happen.  After the old school is cleared away, the student parking lot is gone and all student parking will be in the upper parking lot, and after the giant “mesas” of Harriton’s backyard are gone all of the old fields will be rebuilt.  The baseball field will go back where it used to be, where the student parking lot is now.  There will be three soccer/lacrosse fields behind the school where the mounds of dirt are now, and there will be a softball field behind the school near the loading dock.  In the front, where the old “J” building used to be, another big soccer/lacrosse field will be built, along with 5 new tennis courts.

After years of using the facilities of the old school and, as much as some of us still want the open California style campus and of course “The Tombs,” it’s been very refreshing for Harriton’s athletes to come in this year and start their seasons with a new weight room, a new spinning room, three new gyms, new locker rooms and a new building.

Alex Settle
Staff Writer

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