TULSA, Okla. — Union High School is getting ready to celebrate the grand opening of its newly rebuilt stadium.
The $42 million project took almost three years to complete.
There's more to this new stadium than one might think, it has a lot to offer students beyond the football field.
MORE >>> Photos: Completed Union High School stadium ready for first football game
First, on the north end of the field sits the new band and fine arts building. It was the final part of the project and opened just five days ago.
It houses two band rooms designed for specific acoustics, as well as staff offices, a break room, student cubies, and a uniform storage room.
The Union Director of Bands, Charles Pisarra, says this facility is one they’ve been dreaming about and it was exciting to see it completed.
He says the space helps the district meet its goals.
“It certainly moves us into sort of a new generation of young musicians that are music-making performance level, but what it really does is helps to meet our school districts mission of graduating 100% of our students college and career ready," Pisarra said. "One of our district's strategies, in order to accomplish that mission, is to have a highly engaged student.”
He says the band room sitting adjacent to the football field is another perk saving band students time and energy.
On the west side of the stadium, underneath the concourse area of the stands, there’s a 5-mat wrestling room, a 38-rack weight room with a 60-yard turf strip for the football team as well as offices for the coaches.
Union’s athletic director says the goal was to maximize all the space available.
“It really checked off a lot of boxes of needs that we had," said Emily Barkley the Union High School Athletics Director. "Our old wrestling facility was just a smaller space and it became a safety issue when you’re training so many student-athletes in a small space. So to be able to give them the space that they need there and like you said it's kind of hidden under there and not many know it's under there. So we are happy to show it off.”
Barkley says a bigger weight room and wrestling area improves the quality of training for students and will likely save students practice time.
Union kicks off its football season in the new and improved stadium Friday night against West Moore at 7 p.m.
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