Making athletic facilities better and safer for athletes and the community.

The South Hagerstown Athletic Booster Club, in support of the South Hagerstown High School Athletic Department, has launched a capital project to upgrade athletic facilities on campus.

The purpose of the proposed upgrades would help make facilities safer and more accessible for visitors and athletes using them.

School Stadium is the first facility that has been identified for this long-term project. The stadium is one of the most-used facilities on campus, hosting tackle football, flag football, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls lacrosse, cross country, track and field and unified track.

In recent years, the usage has increased to include hosting graduation ceremonies for both South Hagerstown and Boyd J. Michael III, Technical High School. The stadium has also recently hosted youth football tournaments and games, AAU track and field meets, the CMC Large School championship track meet, school pep rallies, and the WCPS Junior Olympics.

It's not just athletics that would benefit from an upgraded facility. Since 1977, School Stadium has been the host site every October for the WCPS Showcase of Marching Bands. The Showcase is an annual event that allows all seven WCPS high school bands (with occasional guest performances by college marching bands such as Shepherd University) to perform their halftime show for the entire county in an exhibition setting. The evening concludes with each band performing a piece together as a mass band.

Mass band performance during the 47th annual WCPS Showcase of Marching Bands at School Stadium on October 8, 2024.

School Stadium will turn 70 soon. With each event the stadium hosts, it shows its age and wear and tear more and more. For 50 years, the stadium was shared by both North and South Hagerstown High Schools. Field wear and outdated facilities were among the reasons the North Hagerstown Athletic Boosters began a capital project to construct Mike Callas Stadium.

For the summer of 2025, the WCPS Facilities team is working to refurbish the playing surface in the stadium by seeding and fertilizing, but this is only a temporary solution.

The initial phase of this capital project is underway. A starting goal of $10,000 has been set to move forward. This initial phase will include surveying the stadium field and surrounding concourse to officially assess the needs, create architectural plans and submit an official plan to the Board of Education for approval to move to phase two. This is also when the option of grant funding can be explored. Most grants require preparation funds to be available before nonprofits such as the ABC can apply.

The first fundraiser launched to move us closer to the $10,000 goal is a Schoolfundr donation-based campaign. Schoolfundr is like GoFundMe except all proceeds go directly to the school organization running the fundraiser. This means if you donate anywhere between $10 and $1,000+, every penny goes towards this project. A capital project account will hold any raised funds separate from the ABC general budget. All funds will be used exclusively for this project. You can find the Schoolfundr campaign page here.

If you would like to support this capital project campaign in any way, reach out to the ABC at one of our monthly meetings or via email shhathleticboosterclub@gmail.com

An unofficial example of what could be at School Stadium.

Once the capital project goal is reached for School Stadium and all work is completed, the ABC will work in support of the athletic department to identify other potential upgrades to the other facilities on campus.

Together, we will reach our goal to make the facilities more accessible, safer and increase the overall experience for athletes, spectators and our community.