IDAHO CITY, Idaho — The Basin School District held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday to celebrate the Elite Athletic Den as students return to school on Tuesday.
This is a big deal for the small community of Idaho City, which rallied together to develop a new motto — "whatever it takes". This newly built weight room provides momentum heading into the school year.
WATCH | Check out the Elite Athletic Den and the reaction from the community—
"It’s a huge upgrade from our old one," said student Joshua Burlingame. "We used to have a bunch of rusty old plates, and you might need a tetanus shot when you went in there, but this will help us get strong."
The students used to work out in a garage attached to the preschool, and they had really old equipment. However, after finding this out, an anonymous donor helped the Basin School District change all that.
"He said, ' Is this where your kids work out? And we said, 'Yeah, they have for years,' and he said, 'We can do better,'" said Tricia Kelly, the Superintendent of the Basin School District.
"That is where 'whatever it takes' came in because we started saying whatever it takes, we are going to do the best we can for these kids."
This Guy Construction worked until 3:00 a.m. some nights as they raced to put the finishing touches on the project. Kel Mulrey designed the weight room using his connections from a life spent as a Pac-12 strength coach to get the equipment in time for the start of the school year.
"It took us four months, which is kind of unheard of to build a weight room of this quality and of this size," said Mulrey. "You are competing against major universities that are getting the same things, and we slipped in there, and our stuff got done."
Idaho City worked with Sorinex to get equipment made in the USA. The weights and equipment came with Wildcat logos, colors, and engravings. The students are looking forward to using the Elite Athletic Den moving forward.
"Like using this room, we can do whatever it takes," said Burlingame. "Now we have what we need to win and succeed as athletes and as students."
"Whatever it takes" means the entire community coming together, and we saw that at the celebration on Saturday as Idaho City enters the school year with momentum and a new sense of excitement.
"I was really nervous when I saw all the people that showed up, but it is super exciting because it shows that they are excited and the support for the school district is here like never before," said Kelly. "It is beyond excitement. I have no words.”
The high school and middle school start the school year on Tuesday. The school district also has a new sign and a new van for transporting its students to games and field trips.
