Prairie City School District #4 in eastern Oregon is renovating its athletic facilities with support from a grant of more than $60,000 from USDA Rural Development, announced State Director Vicki Walker today. This project will enable the community to host additional sporting events, enhancing opportunities for the students and town alike.
“Living in a small town should never impede the quality of education you receive from your local school or opportunities to participate in extracurricular activities,” said Walker. “Quality education is the key to creating ladders of opportunity for rural students, and that requires adequate facilities and equipment.”
The funding from USDA is being provided through Rural Development’s Community Facilities Program, and is contingent upon the recipient meeting the terms of their grant agreement. Grant County School District #4 is contributing an additional $120,000 to this project.
Prairie City School serves all 145 students in this community of 909 people. The school started renovations of its football field, tennis court, baseball field, and track and field area in 2006. Today’s grant from USDA will enable this K-12 school to finish those improvements. The school will rubberize and paint the track; the runways for the long jump, triple jump, and pole vault; and the tennis court, which also serves as the high jump area. In addition, they will purchase track and field equipment, such as hurdles, high jump and pole vault mats and standards, removable partition fencing to separate events, and a storage facility for the equipment.
When complete, this project will enable the school, home of the Panthers, to hold track meets at their facility, providing additional athletic opportunities for students while also bringing people from surrounding areas to this small town and positively impacting local businesses.