Northern's new gym floor being installed
When Jason Kasparian joined Port Huron Northern High School as its athletic director in 2012, he met with the school's booster club to create a list of ways to improve the building's facilities.
On that list was the goal to replace the gym floor. And now that construction has begun on the floor, Kasparian is well on his way to checking that off his list.
The district announced its intentions to replace the gym floor with the "Fund Our Floor" campaign during its 50th anniversary celebration in January 2015. The campaign's initial goal to raise $120,000 was met in February with the help of corporate sponsorship and individual donors. However, after reviewing bids from contractors, it was determined that $140,000 was needed to cover the cost of replacing the gym floor.
Kasparian said that additional donors were quickly found and construction on the project began on June 20.
"We are very fortunate," Kasparian said. "This is just one small thing, but it’s a big deal. This is a great effort within our community."
The old gym floor was installed when the school was first built in 1965.
"The floor that was there was basically wood on top of cork," Kasparian said.
The new floor will have a maple top floor, under which there are layers of plywood and rubber cushioning. Kasparian said the floor has the newest certification levels and will be better for athletes and physical education students to train on.
"You won't maybe notice it right away, but your body won't hurt later on," Kasparian said. "The floor that we (now) have is cushioned, so it absorbs the energy when you pound on it."
At this point, the old floor has been completely torn out and the sublayers of the new floor have been put in. Construction workers are about halfway done putting in the top wood floor.
After the base of the floor has been installed, Kasparian said the floor will be painted and then coated in several layers of varnish. It is projected to be completed by Aug. 1.
If there is money in the fund left over after the construction of the floor, Kasparian said it will still go toward the gym.
The sponsors that purchased space on the floor are Zimmer Roofing, Talmer Bank, McLaren Port Huron, Lake Huron Medical Center, SEMCO, Ted's Coney Island, Kelly Law Firm, Michigan Driving School, Northern's athletic boosters, Brenda Johnston of Insurance Specialists Agency in Marysville, a spot in memory of Bob Dawson, a former boosters president, and a spot in memory of Mark Knust, the owner and president of Marysville Marine Distributors.
Each sponsor contributed $10,000 and will have a spot on the new floor dedicated to them.
"The community support has been awesome," Kasparian said. "It’s one of those things that they are going to have advertising on our floor, so they're going to get something out of it. But the thing is, they still came together to make this happen."
Contact Anya Rath at (810) 434-2172 or arath@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @anya_rath.
