West Liberty High School graduates JJ and Kelsie Garcia are giving $10,000 to the new athletic complex to help support moving the school district forward. The Garcias live in West Liberty, have three young children in the district, and Kelsie is a teacher at the West Liberty Middle School.
“We both graduated from West Liberty,” said JJ Garcia, “We played sports and were involved in extracurricular activities, and that is where some of our closest friendships and relationships were developed. We still maintain those today”
The Garcia’s children, Liv, age 13, Molly, age 11, and Miles, age 6, will grow up with the new facilities. Kelsie and JJ are excited about what this means for the school and the future of the community, and for their children as well.
“Our kids play sports and will benefit from these facilities, but I think it’s important that the fine arts will get use out of them as well. All students will be impacted,” said JJ. “In addition, I work in town and believe this will drive business and motivate families to move to West Liberty.”
The school district is fundraising, but will fund over 80 percent of the project from its own budget. The total school contribution is estimated at $6-8 million, but superintendent Shaun Kruger said that money will definitely pay dividends.
“When families look for school districts, they rank academic performance and athletics at the top of the list. We have started working on a strategic plan geared towards academic excellence and raising academic standards.
Studies show investing in state-of-the-art facilities works towards this goal and kids that are involved perform better in school. I’m thrilled to have one of my teachers supporting the project and I can’t thank Kelsie and JJ enough for this gift,” said Kruger.
Kelsie Garcia has taught in West Liberty for over 15 years and has seen the benefits of extracurricular involvement firsthand.
“Playing sports and getting involved build relationships and connects kids more to the school,” said Kelsie. “I have students that work hard in school, but struggle at times. Playing sports gives them another opportunity to shine. It also requires them to keep their grades up for eligibility.”
JJ Garcia is the son of Gus Garcia, one of the longest running football and track coaches for the district. As a kid he was a football water boy and then played for the Comet football team, coached baseball for a while, and played on the state-qualifying baseball team. He believes this project will motivate more graduates to make a home in the district, a hope of many donors to the project.
“We have met with so many amazing people during this process,” said Activities Director, Adam Loria. “People who have lived here their entire lives and will do anything to see the school and community thrive. Just think of the possibilities if we can get more graduates to come back and make a life here like the Garcias did.”
The school hopes to start rough grading on the site in late August. The fields, track, and other facilities should break ground in October.
The Garcias are donating their funds for a press box at the new baseball stadium which should host its first event in spring 2024 in the new facility south of West Liberty High School.