BY DAN HILDEBRAN
School and district leaders emphasized the benefits of athletics during a ribbon cutting for Keystone Heights Junior-Senior High School’s new track on Friday, March 22. Because of rain, the ceremony was moved to the school’s gymnasium.
Athletic Director Chuck Dickinson thanked several former leaders in the school’s athletic department and administration for attending the ceremony, including Coach and Principal Mike Wingate, Principal and Superintendent David Owens, Coach and Principal Keith Harper, and Coach and Athletic Director Wesley Dicks.
Dickinson thanked Superintendent David Broskie and the school board for funding the project, which Broskie later said cost $400,000.
The athletic director said he is a big believer in the value of extracurricular activities, including athletics, in developing the whole student.
“Through athletics, students learn to be accountable, how to work together as a team, how to battle adversity, and demonstrate sportsmanship,” he said. “More importantly, athletics is a tool to help young men and women to be great husbands and fathers, wives and mothers, bosses and colleagues.”
He said the new track will not only help coaches develop students but will also be a source of pride for the school and the community.
Principal Laurie Burke said she wanted to hold the ribbon-cutting ceremony because of athletics’ impact on student achievement. She added that the nearly half-million-dollar investment in the new facility is well worth it.
“You can’t put any cost on a student’s education and their high school experience,” she said. “You can’t put a price on that because it is critical in their lives and then our country’s future.”
She said high school athletics builds future leaders and contributes to school spirit, improving student and staff engagement.
“There’s nothing like school spirit that brings your school to life,” she said, “(and increasing the desire for) kids who want to be here. That’s the whole point. We want students to want to be here, and we want faculty and staff to want to be here.”
She continued, “Just imagine a school without sports. Just imagine a school without school spirit.”
The principal and Keystone Heights High School graduate recalled athletics’ role in her life. Burke earned state titles in the 110-yard-high hurdles and the long jump and reached the state final four as a member of the basketball team.
She earned a bachelor’s degree at Valdosta State University on a basketball scholarship.
“Our new track has a special place in my heart,” she said. “I spent many hours on the old asphalt track, blood, sweat, and tears, all of it—sometimes out there on the asphalt track all by myself.”
The principal added that the coaches and teachers she encountered on the Orchid Avenue campus had a long-lasting impact on her.
She singled out her father: Owens, her basketball coach: Wingate, Dicks, and Walt Darty for having outsized influences in her life.
Burke also recalled that Broskie was the assistant principal at Clay High School when Burke landed her first teaching job there.
Broskie told the crowd that another unique quality of the high school is its host community.
“When you think of Keystone, you think of the pride,” he said. “Look at the pride that this community has, and this track is an example of that.”
The superintendent also recognized the school’s recent grade improvement to an A.
“That just doesn’t happen,” he said. “It’s intentional.”
Broskie added that the two most significant factors in a school’s success are the teachers in the classroom and the school’s leadership. He said that the community has a hometown success story with Burke and a strong school leader with what he called the “Keystone flair.”
Broskie also recognized the school’s three-time state champion weightlifting team and the football team’s repeat winners of Florida’s academic championships.
The superintendent also repeated Dickinson’s and Burke’s theme on the importance of athletics.
“Students don’t come to school for English, math, science, and social studies,” he said. “They look forward to coming to school because of athletics and other extracurricular activities.”
