The Miami Trace Local School District thanked several sponsors recently with a meet-and-greet as well as a halftime ceremony.
Prior to the home football game on Sept. 6, district superintendent David Lewis said the schools held a meet-and-greet with various athletic sponsors to thank them for their partnership. During the meet-and-greet, light food was served, and Lewis took time to thank all of the sponsors who were present.
Following the start of the game, Lewis also said the sponsors in attendance had the opportunity to come out to the field and be recognized by the community. The group — which had about half of the sponsors — then took a photo with various student-athletes for the fall season.
According to Lewis, several years ago the schools wanted a chance to market the various athletic programs to help raise funds for facility improvements. The suggested improvements at the time included video boards at the field and the gymnasium, as well as many other additions for student-athletes.
“So we worked together with a marketing firm to put together a package to see how local businesses would take to it,” Lewis said during an interview this week. “I interviewed with many businesses and throughout that process we found several sponsors.”
Lewis said the sponsorship program had multiple levels, including diamond, gold, silver, bronze and even an education sponsor. These packages included shout-outs, naming rights and much more.
“We had Quali-Tee Design sponsor and earn the naming rights to the auditorium at the new high school and Tony’s Welding & Fabrication who sponsored the naming rights for the field,” Lewis said. “It is thanks to these and many other sponsors that we were able to get video boards completed and we now use those to thank the sponsors at the games. The video boards should be paid off by the end of the year.”
This year the sponsors included; diamond sponsors: Tony’s Welding & Fabrication and Quali-Tee Design; gold sponsors: Baxla Tractor, Fayette County Memorial Hospital, First State Bank, GL Pettit LLC, Miami Trace Athletic Boosters and Pepsi; silver sponsors: Fayette Veterinary Hospital, KBP Foods, Kirk’s Furniture, Parrett Insurance, Valero and Vermeer; and bronze sponsors: Doug Marine Motors, Hartley Oil, Herron Financial Group, M&M Fasteners, Melvin Stone and WCR. The education sponsor is Southern State Community College.
“Though not all of the sponsors came out to the meet and greet or the halftime ceremony, we greatly appreciate all of them,” Lewis said. “All of our sponsors being a part of this wonderful financial commitment means a lot. We hope to continue to see support from sponsors like this and be able to continue athletic facility upgrades.”
Finally Lewis said naming rights for the gymnasium are still available and to contact him if interested. The Miami Trace District Office can be reached at (740) 335-3010.
The information in this article was provided by superintendent Dave Lewis.
Reach Martin Graham at (740) 313-0351 or on Twitter @MartiTheNewsGuy.
