JOAHNNESBURG - The Johannesburg-Lewiston area schools are putting the finishing touches on some brand-new facilities. The facilities include, a brand-new auditorium, fieldhouse, as well as baseball and softball fields. The additions come as a 20-million-dollar bond was approved back in 2020.
The Johannesburg-Lewiston softball and baseball teams haven’t been able to play home games the past couple of years because of the renovations, but not anymore, as both teams will host games this spring, something superintendent, Katy Xenakis-Makowski knew was necessary.
“We put a lot of miles on the last few years and we’re super appreciative of all the teams that allowed us to play at their place, but now we’ve got a very nice facility. And we’ve spent a lot of time and a lot of energy and lots of people helped make this happen.” Said Xenakis-Makowski. “Thanks to the community support, we’re going to be able to host some pretty amazing home games and I think we’ve got regionals this year too for our softball team, so that would be great.”
The school’s athletic director, Joseph Smokevitch, talked about how much their students enjoy the facilities.
“The kids love it, for me, it’s great, you know, being the athletic director and football coach, the excitement from the kids and everything, and not even just the kids, but, you know, People that have come around to see it, you know, when we had officials coming for basketball wanting to see it.” Said Smokevitch. “Just the excitement is drawn just from all the kids, you know, to see it in their faces that the fact that they’re able to stay inside and practice when the weather is bad, that’s kind of what I’m looking for.
The facility is not open yet to the public, but there will be an open house sometime at the end of April.