Dow High School turf project nearing completion

MIDLAND, Mich. — The turf project at H. H. Dow High School moved another step forward thanks to generosity from the Midland community.

The Midland Public Schools Board of Education voted in May to approve a donation from the Midland Area Community Foundation to H. H. Dow High School allocated toward the installation of a new turf field. The donation totals $162,831.55 and comes from multiple individuals.

The turf field, as well as fencing and a parking lot, is already installed and in use. Dow High athletic director John Streeter told the City Paper that the school has already hosted soccer and lacrosse games at the new facility.

Estimated costs for the turf field were $1.2 million. The second phase of the project will include the construction of additional amenities including lights, sound system, and scoreboard. The school hopes to have this phase completed in time for the fall 2021 season.

The Midland Area Community Foundation’s newly approved donations are for the last phase. Kurt Ieuter, unofficial spokesperson for the Dow High turf project, told the City Paper that there is approximately $600,000 on hand for the project.

“The Midland Area Community Foundation held all of our money for us while we were doing the fundraising, and so as projects were need to be paid for or built, the money was just accepted,” Mr. Ieuter said.

The turf project committee has decided to hold off on other amenities (including restrooms and concession stands) due to the cost and logistics of running sewer lines out to the turf area.

The Midland Public School approved the turf project in May 2020. Mr. Ieuter told the City Paper that the project experienced “a couple of curve balls” during that year.

“We were going to roll out our big fundraising project and had a bunch of things on the agenda, literally the week COVID hit and everything got shut down,” Mr. Ieuter said. “We obviously delayed that. Then we got ready to ramp up again and release our fundraising full scale.”

Soon after the approval, however, the Edenville Dam breach occurred on May 19, 2020, which devastated the Midland community and affected Dow High.

The turf area stayed dry during the flood. Mr. Ieuter told the City Paper that the school had engineers inspect the area, with the conclusion being that it is safe from future flood threats.

However, the flood was another obstacle when it came to fundraising.

“It’s hard to ask people in the community to contribute to the need to contribute to a [want] when there were plenty of needs in our community. So we felt bad asking for money for this, so we had to push the project back even further,” Mr. Ieuter said.

Fundraising started back up by fall 2020. During the school year, Dow High started to accept donations toward the turf field at school events. In addition, a group of Midland restaurants – including Jersey Mike’s, Whine, Dairy Queen, Pizza Dude, Buffalo Wild Wings, Panda Express, and YaYa’s – held “restaurant night” fundraisers in which 20% of their sales would go toward the turf project.

Mr. Ieuter told the City Paper that he is proud of the 108 donors who contributed $1,000 or more to the project, as well as more than 500 who gave less than $1,000.

“They contributed in some way, shape, or form. To me, that says that the community was behind this. Especially with all the challenges to be able to do this project, under those circumstances, was pretty amazing, I think, and have that many people support it,” Mr. Ieuter said.

In addition, the school will also construct a bell tower over the next few weeks. Mr. Ieuter told the City Paper that the tower, donated by Mid Michigan Masonry, is approximately $75,000 in value. The tower will serve as a gathering area for student-athletes, and will also recognize the turf project donors who contributed $1,000+.

The turf project was conceived out of a longstanding desire for Dow High to have its own facility for hosting sporting events. As Mr. Ieuter told the City Paper, the school originally wanted a stadium, but eventually pursued building a turf complex instead due to financial challenges.

Mr. Ieuter believes that Dow High was at a disadvantage due to the lack of a turf field, as the soccer team and band had no proper facility to practice in. The soccer team, for instance, held practice on a marshy grass area in the school property, while playing games on turf at another location.

The turf project committee had discovered, while doing research, that Dow High was one of very few high schools in the state of Michigan that didn’t have a turf complex.

“We worked with lots of community leaders and had lots of discussions and revised our plans numerous times,” Mr. Ieuter said. “And ultimately, what it came down to was, what we really needed was turf and lights. And it would be able to help everyone from the youth football league to the band, lacrosse, soccer, and everybody in between.”

Michael Piwowarski

Michael Piwowarski covers education, including higher ed and Midland Public Schools, for the City Paper.