Longtime Southwick track and field coach Richard Atkinson, left, cuts a ceremonial ribbon with Steven Nielsen, primary financial donor of the new Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional High School athletic track, during a rededication ceremony where the new track was renamed the Coach Richard Atkinson Track & Field Facility. Partial funding was provided by the Southwick Community Preservation Fund. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
SOUTHWICK – The Coach Richard Atkinson Track & Field Facility is now officially open.
A ribbon cutting was held yesterday at the brand new $750,000 track on the grounds of Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional High School.
Named for the longtime coach and former high school math teacher, the track was made possible through a donation of more than $500,000 from the Steven and Elizabeth Nielsen Gift Fund, as well as funds from the Community Preservation Committee.
Steven Nielsen, a 1981 graduate of the school, approached Superintendent John Barry in May of 2013 to help fund the track and was on hand yesterday to celebrate his former coach.
Members of the Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional High School Band perform at a rededication ceremony of the school’s athletic track. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
Nielsen said Barry asked him to speak about his motivation to bring a new track to STGRHS.
“Fundamentally, that motivation rested on the desire to help Coach Atkinson,” said Nielsen.
Atkinson is celebrating 51 years of teaching and coaching in Southwick this year, and Nielsen wondered how many lives he has touched.
“Think of the thousands of students he has positively influenced both in the classroom and on the track,” he said.
Members of the Southwick Tolland-Granville Regional High School Cross Country teams celebrate the opening of a new athletic track at the school with a ceremonial run yesterday. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
Nielsen said his second motivation was to bring a world-class track to the students in the district, and the third reason was to lend support to the commitment Southwick residents made to education by approving funding for the school renovation project.
“You can see the town has a real, tangible commitment to education,” Nielsen said.
Nielsen added that he and his wife and their families have a Christian view of wealth and believe they are the temporary managers of wealth in order to share it with others.
Longtime Southwick track and field coach Richard Atkinson, left, and Steven Nielsen, primary financial donor of the new Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional High School athletic track, participated in the rededication ceremony where the new track was renamed the Richard Atkinson Track & Field Facility. Partial funding was provided by the Southwick Community Preservation Fund. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
Atkinson humbly and briefly spoke yesterday afternoon and thanked the Nielsen family and those gathered in his honor, including selectmen, the school committee, and numeorus current and former staff and students.
Atkinson recalled the narrow old track that, in 1971, seemed like the greatest track he had ever seen. The new track, however, is rivaled by few in the area.
“I can’t wait for track season,” he said.
Neither can Girls Cross-Country Coach Kristin Tetreault.
Tetreault presented Atkinson and Nielsen jars of what appeared to be old dirt. However, inside the jars were pieces of the two men’s past.
“This may look like jars of dirt, but this is decades of Coach Atkinson’s dedication,” Tetreault said of the dirt she collected from the old track before it was torn out.
After the ribbon cutting, a group of students ran around the track and Tetreault said her team would have their first practice on the track that afternoon.
“I’m so excited,” she said. “This has given us a track to be proud of. Other coaches are dying to come here now.”
Members of the Southwick Tolland-Granville Regional High School Cross Country teams celebrate the opening of a new athletic track at the school with a ceremonial run yesterday. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
Tetreault said that’s a big change from the past when teams would ask to reschedule meets set in Southwick. Now, Tetreault said they are the envy of the area.
The new track will also help improve their times, she said.
“For cross-country, it gives us a great place to do speed work,” Tetreault said.
State Rep. Nick Boldyga spoke during the ceremony and said the re-dedication of the track to Atkinson, the number of people there and the financial backing of a former student prove that Atkinson is someone that made an impact.
Barry said once the ribbon was cut, the track was open to students and the community at large, and invited the public to walk and run on the track.
