Goooal!
Palo Alto scores $250,000 soccer field
By Genevieve Ventura
Pulse Staff Reporter
In the November 4 bond election,
Palo Alto College was awarded $250,000 for the development of an international-caliber
soccer field to be used by the students and the community.
“The goal was to establish a partnership with the city of San Antonio and
work closely with our city councilman, who is Richard Perez, to establish the
soccer field, (which will be adjacent to Highway 16, the Poteet Highway),”
said Elizabeth “Eli” Eguia-Garcia, Director of Institutional Advancement
and Public Affairs. “Palo Alto is growing. We are expanding the athletic
program, and offering the soccer field is a further development with the Independent
School Districts.”
Palo Alto College will have a temporary soccer/football field, located behind
the Gymnasium, which is being built by students in a Turfgrass Science class.
Ten students are doing the labor this semester in preparation for the spring
semester. They have measured, laid out, fertilized, graded high spots, added
soil and will plant winter grass.
Palo Alto offers an Associate of Applied Science in Turfgrass & Golf Course
Management and an Associate of Applied Science in Landscape & Horticultural
Science. Students are also able to get a Turfgrass & Golf Course Management
Certificate; Landscape & Horticulture Science Certificate; Turf & Landscape
Irrigation Certificate; or a Basic Nursery & Landscape Operations Certificate.
Here are just a few classes a student interested in this major would take to
get hands-on experience: Turfgrass Science & Management, Turfgrass Maintenance,
Soil Fertility & Fertilizers, Golf/Sport Field/Park Management, Specialized
Turfgrass Management, Special Topics in Turf Management, Principles of Horticulture,
Herbaceous Plants, Horticultural Pest Control, Landscape Construction and Landscape
Irrigation.
“(The temporary field) will be used as a living lab for the Horticulture
class, and be a multi-purpose field that students will have access to until
the professionally made soccer field is built," said Leandro M. Esparza,
the College Athletic Coordinator.
Barbara McBride, a Landscape & Horticultural Science major, said, “This
is a great field, and I have gained a lot more than expected. I recommend more
students to have at least one class for experience.”
Vincent Bradford, Chair of the Kinesiology Department, said, “This is a
really great project, because it involves Intramural Sports, such as flag football
and soccer, Physical Education and Turfgrass Management. The temporary field
will hold us off for at least two to three years until the professionally made,
international-caliber soccer field is ready.”
Jessica Cox, an Athletic Trainer major, said, “It is about time we students
have access to a multipurpose field.”
Plans regarding restrooms, lighting, water fountains and stands around the soccer
field have not yet been resolved.