Ground was ceremoniously broken Friday afternoon for the new gymnasium at Goshen High School. The $3.1 million construction is now moving forward with a 12-14-month completion timeline.

Dr. Mark Bazzell, superintendent of Pike County Schools, said the new gymnasium has been needed for a long time and expressed great pleasure in, at last, putting the shovel in the ground.

“This is an exciting day,” he said.

Bazzell introduced the members of the Pike County Board of Education and expressed appreciation to them for their diligence in bring the project to fruition.

Dr. Warren Weeks, GHS principal, thanked Bazzell and the board for providing the GHS students and the community with a facility in which they can take great pride.

“This has been a dream for a long time,” he said. “Now, it is becoming a reality and we thank you.”

GHS Athletic Director Bart Snyder spoke on behalf of the athletic department, the community and as citizen of Goshen and expressed appreciation to all of those who have stayed the course and provided a gym that will meet the needs of the students and community now and for many years to come.

Goshen High School’s current gymnasium is inadequate as a basketball facility and seating is limited.

The new multi-purpose gymnasium will feature a 100-foot basketball court, which will allow Goshen High School to host tournament play, cross-courts and court areas for volleyball. The gym will have bleachers on both sides that will accommodate 1,000 people.

“The gym will have lockers and dressing rooms for the basketball varsity and junior varsity boys and girls,” said Tom Hicks, director of finance and operations for the Pike County Schools. “Goshen High’s football locker rooms and dressing rooms are also inadequate so the new gym includes a football wing that has lockers and dressing rooms for both varsity and junior varsity football and a weight room for boys and girls.”

The gymnasium has been placed so that the Goshen High School Eagles football teams can enter the football stadium from the football wing.

“The football teams will enter the south end zone from the gym much the way college teams do,” Hicks said.

The new gym will also have dressing rooms for the physical education classes.

Hicks said the new gym is being financed through bond issues.

“Several years ago, the state issued bond money to the schools,” he said. “Based on student count, the Pike County School System received $1.9 million. That was not enough to construct what we had said we wanted to build, the gymnasium at Goshen. Now, with new bond issues using state and local funds, we were able to build the new gymnasium that has long been needed.”

Architects for the new gym are Godwin and Jones. Whaley Construction Company is the builder.