INOLA, Okla. — After months of championing for votes, Inola High School took first place in TMobile's Friday Night 5G Lights competition. The win secures more than $2 million dollars for the Oklahoma school.
The Longhorns celebrated proudly in pink, after beating out 1,700 other schools nationwide.
Deleea Meeker is the faculty member who brought the competition to the district. She grew up in Inola, went to school in the district and now works there as the high school's college and career coordinator.
"From the moment I had this wild idea, it's been supported and encouraged and students have been on board and it wouldn't have happened if there wasn't just a deep love for the school and the community," said Meeker.
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TMobile representatives told the crowd celebrating the news that Inola went above and beyond — reaching out to every superintendent in the state and traveling more than one hundred miles to secure the win.
While $100,000 will come in the form of a grant for the school to use however they see fit, the remainder of the funds will go towards the athletic department.
“When it first started, you’re thinking Inola… You know you’ve got a high school with 400 kids competing against schools that have 3,000, so way bigger communities," said Athletic Director Brett Thomas. "The whole village stepped up, stepped up to the plate and did a great job.”
Thomas also serves as Inola's head football coach.
His team will reap the majority of the benefits, with a weigh room transformation, a teched-out score board, turf replacement and other 5G network upgrades.
But, as he points out, more than just high school athletics will get to enjoy the amenities.
"Our football field is used by the community, little league football uses it on Saturday, they practice on it, soccer uses it, sometimes other sports teams come up and use it," the coach said. "Our turf is about 11 years old, so it was time for turf. I was looking into the price, and it's about $600,000 to replace it. TMobile saved us."
It's also not lost on junior Tyler Yoder how big an impact this will have on his small town.
He's a junior, and said he's fortunate to have another season with the Longhorn's to see these dollars at work.
"We don't have a lot of wiggle room in our funds anywhere, so to get this $2 million, it really opens things up to a whole new horizon for us," said Yoder. "It's going to be life changing for my senior year, for sure."
And while this is a major moment for the school system, it's also breathed new life into the community of about 2,000 people.
“There’s a lot of people who went to school here that have their kids in the system, or they went here a long time ago," said Meeker. "They have not been this excited about their hometown maybe ever, and it’s really brought a sense of community to our school system and our town that we haven’t had.”
She tells 2 News the only criteria for the competition was a community of less than 150,000 people. Inola is home to just 2,000.
With Inola being TMobile's first winner, they plan to work quickly to get upgrades underway to get schools excited for next year. The amenities are expected to be completely renovated by the start of the 2025 football season.
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