Athletics Director Sharalee Burr and the MTHS Boosters Club are spearheading an effort to replace the scoreboards in the Terraceum, a project which will cost approximately $30,000. The current scoreboards are 23 years old and are failing in many aspects.
“Our scoreboards are some of the oldest scoreboards in the District, and they are now shorting out due to age and wear,” Burr said. “We started noticing in August when volleyball season started that a lot of the lightbulbs were going out.”
A maintenance crew from the District discovered that the issue was a result of damage to the scoreboards due to their longtime usage. Thus, the athletics department has determined that it makes more financial sense to replace the scoreboards altogether than to continue to invest in their maintenance.
According to Burr, most schools keep scoreboards for 15 to 20 years at a time, depending on the model, so Terrace is due for a replacement.
The Edmonds School District has pledged to cover $12,500 of the cost if the Terrace community can cover the remainder of the expenses. The MTHS Boosters Club has pledged $4,000 for the project and the administration has agreed to use $4,000 from Terrace’s general funds as well. Additionally, the ASB has pledged $3,000 toward the cost of the scoreboard.
The rest of the Terrace community thus needed to raise roughly $4,000 in donations However, Burr has stated it would be preferable if the project were to receive $6,000 in funding from community members, students, alumni, families and faculty.
According to Fines Manager Sandy Scherich, enough money has been raised from the community fundraiser, the general funds, ASB and the MTHS Boosters Club to cover the costs of replacing the scoreboards at the time of publication.
Once the money is available, it will take three to four weeks before the new scoreboards will be installed. If any money is left over after the scoreboards are ordered, it will go toward the athletics fund and will pay for the department’s future needs.
“They are going to be beautiful scoreboards in our school color, red,” Burr said. “There will also be a hawk logo and another logo, depending on what we decide as a school.”
All donors to the project will be listed on a banner that will be placed below one of the new scoreboards in the Terraceum for one year. A donation of $100 or more will add the donor’s name and quote to a 4 inch by 8 inch tile under the upstairs Hawk statue. A donation of $250 or more will add the donor’s name and quote to an 8 inch by 8 inch tile. The tiles will be made and placed by the hawk statue by the MTHS Boosters Club.
The MTHS Boosters Club created a 99pledges page to raise the necessary funds from the community for the completion of the project. At the time of publication, $4,720 had been raised by the Terrace community for the new scoreboards. The donation page can be found here: https://app.99pledges.com/fund/MTHSScoreboards.
Editor’s Note: This version of the story was updated on Wednesday, Jan. 29. A previous version of the story contained incorrect information regarding the overall cost of the replacement scoreboards and the sources of funding for the project.
