Williamsport High School/Stadium

As for this project I decided to look more deeply into what is now known as the STA stadium. The STA stands for Student Transportation of America. The Williamsport Area High School football field has been known as Millionaire Stadium for more than 40 years. The Student Transportation of America is the district's school bus company. STA will pay $500,000 for naming rights to the stadium for 15 years. This amount is used for the kids' to cover the cost and build new tracks and football fields that are installed with all weather turf. This was a great help for all the kids that played football at Williamsport Area High School and local community youth teams. As a reader and a outsider of the Williamsport community. I personally believe that during these times of change and improvements the communities moral was increasing.

This venue is memorable and is well know for its size. If looking to get a vivid imagination of the venue in the history of High School Venues it is marked as one of the largest high school venues in the region.The STA Stadium can hold 65-hundred people. Not that all high school games need to hold that many people they are looking to help out in the youth sports community along with high school athletes. Simply by giving the kids more resources to work on their talents and enjoy their hobbies. This also attracts , more opportunities for these athletes. With the population of people at the stadium increasing this shows an increase in value in the Williamsport Area High School . Which is also marked as a historic site another way to encage the community in public history. With the help of the district foundation and programs it allows there to be improvements to the STA stadium and more.

From a personal experience after a year playing for the Lycoming football team at Lycoming College, I was able to grasp a view on the community and how we look at one another. So seeing the STA company provided to this school shows a similar relationship between the community. Millionaires Stadium was originally built in 1972. Later in 2014 the Millionaires Stadium was re-built into the STA Stadium. The history of public school education in Williamsport, was not organized until 1869. From when the school was built in 1869 to now there were several location changes. In 1869 it was stated to be located According to Paul G. Gilmore and his History of Lycoming County, "In Hill's Block on the north side of Fourth Street, which is between Elmira and Hepburn Streets."

The Williamsport population is roughly 28,562. Athletics was also a great help for the community to stay together to establish a "family bond". Before 1972 williamsport area high school was able to get two night games one in 1932 and the second one in 1962. The stadium was rarley small but there was about 1,500 people going there for those games, at the time that was a fairly large amount. Williamsport Area High School currently holds approximately, 1,400 students through grade 9-12. The overall mission of the Williamsport Area School District is to develop responsible citizens through education along with there famous motto: . students "grow as they go". This in the one forward in their pursuit of learning, no matter what it is. From traditional curriculum coursework, to music, art, or hands-on skills training such as voccational school, Williamsport Area High School try to have it all.

Williamsport is home to two institutions of higher learning: Lycoming College and Pennsylvania College of Technology. The community’s diverse population also plays a role in the dynamics of the district. History throughout the Williamsport Area High School has develop a lot from athletics. With this motivation from the past the Williamsport community is always looking to give back. Williamsport has a strong athletic heritage that goes back decades. The town’s main claims to fame are being the birthplace of Little League Baseball and home to the Little League World Series.

The Williamsport Area School District Education Foundation is recognized as a associate of the Williamsport Area School District. During the 2013-14 season the school district and the foundation were hoping to raise approximately a little over $3 million to help improve athletic complexes. All this money was funded by the capital campaign. This campaign was another way to focus on the stadium and athletic programs but also help others.The renovated sports facility serves as a new and exciting site for Williamsport community events. In conclusion 87% of the goal, was raised from 452 donors in December of 2018.

Williamsport Area High School isn’t just focused on the athletic when trying to engage the community. Along with the capital campaign the school district received a generous $5,000 grant from the Harry Plankenhorn Foundation in 2017 to help fund the launch of the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank’s BackPack Program. Around the foundation and athletics Williamsport area high school producers a great amount of history throughout the community and should be looked at as a Clio historic site.

"1500 Fans Inspect New Football Field ." Williamsport Sun-Gazette (Williamsport PA) September 6th 1972.

Association , Williamsport Education. Williamsport Schools Through The Years , Archive.org. February 10th 1958. Accessed April 25th 2022.

https://archive.org/details/williamsportscho00will.