Fremont High School students, staff and community members celebrated the opening of the new Dillon Stadium with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on August. 26. Mayor Joey Spellerberg, one of the main speakers, applauded the effort it took to make the change possible.
“I’m super excited and I thank the donors for their support,” Spellerberg said. “This wouldn’t happen without them and without the community getting behind something like this. I think it shows how much we’re coming together as a community. And I’m excited to see all the success that our teams and students will have out here.”
Principal Myron Sikora said the stadium will serve multiple programs in addition to sporting events.
“We’re going to play soccer here,” Sikora said. “We’re going to do track here. Our cross country people, even though they don’t run here for a meet, they train here throughout the year, football, band, lots of student organizations, and PE comes out here every day too to walk on the track and do the fitness challenges that they have for PE.”
With this new opportunity comes new experiences for students, families and staff. The stadium also provides something new for the community. Football coach Lee Jennings hopes to see more support for school events.
“I think it will draw some more community members to come to the games, even maybe students that know our facility and know our school,” Jennings said. “It’s maybe a bit more comforting than having to go all the way to Midland for a game, just drawing more crowd and excitement.”
Students share similar sentiments regarding the stadium and the limitless memories to be made. One student in particular, senior Claire Hughes, expresses her enthusiasm for the future of band.
“I really like how far back the stands go because the band never really had enough room last year, ” Hughes said. “I also really like that we have the little designated name plates up there that say, like, students, fans, and then there’s actually a section for the band. Yeah, that makes me happy.”
Dillon Stadium will continue to create new memories for FHS students, families and community members. Along with the new memories, some students will miss the nostalgia that Heedum Field provided.
One thing that senior Ava Placek commented on was the direction of the bleachers resulting in the missing sun set effect.
“One of the first things I noticed in the new stadium is that we’re not facing the sunset anymore. One thing about Heedum is that we could watch the sunset go down while they were playing,” Placek said. “I really like the new stadium and we needed it, but I do miss the sunset during the games.”
