As of the 2023–24 school year, Joliet Central High School has made many renovations to its stadium and has some additional items that weren’t there last year, including a new entryway arch and statue. Central started the construction for this project on May 22, 2023; however, they did not finish until after August 24, 2023. Much of the information included in this article is from Athletic Director Jon Pereiro. The two main construction companies working and planning for this project were Ruettiger, Tonelli, & Associates Inc., supplying the engineers, and Wight & Company, supplying the architects.
As many things in life need to be replaced over time due to wear and tear, so does athletic equipment. The main reason the stadium has received these upgrades is that most of the equipment was slowly inching toward being replaced, as it was last done in 2010. The equipment is recommended to be replaced every 15 years or so, depending on quality and weather. They started vaguely planning for the arch and other upgrades back around the beginning of 2020; however, due to COVID-19, the plans did not start coming to fruition until the end of the last school year.
The equipment that needed to be upgraded or replaced was the turf, long jump pits, track, and LED lights. While replacing these, the athletic directors from Central High School took the initiative to help make Central a place to be proud of by adding a new statue of the Joliet Central mascot, the Steelman, a new victory arch, and seating to go around the statue. They also helped improve the new look by painting the track and turf the school colors.
Many more academically inclined students who don’t particularly care about this may be wondering why these upgrades can benefit them outside of sports, or perhaps even parents may be wondering this as well. There are many other uses for this stadium outside of sports, including, but not limited to, marching band, ROTC color or honor guard, local community events, and some local youth groups are also renting out the stadium for fundraisers, etc. Others may be wondering how they should feel about this, or, as mentioned before, they still don’t particularly care for sports. Students should be proud of where they went to school or graduated from, and by having these upgrades happen, more students can say that they are excited to come here or to be a part of something that can help improve our community.