Elmhurst’s Newtown High School to field football team for first time after breaking ground on state-of-the-art field renovations

The renovations, the first phase of which is expected to be completed by fall, will lay down a new track and field at the athletic complex, including markings for soccer, baseball and football.

The second phase of the project, which has not been funding yet, includes plans for a state-of-the-art scoreboard and lights to facilitate night games at the field.

Bill Psoras, principal of Newtown High School, said the renovation would be “transformational” for the school, adding that the school is in the midst of a “renaissance” following efforts to instill school pride in the student community. He said the renovations of the athletic field to facilitate a football team for the first time in the school’s 129-year history would provide a major boost to growing school pride.

“For a school with nearly 13 decades of history, there are not many firsts left,” Psoras said, adding that the addition of a school football team would expand the school’s athletic program and “transform the culture of the school.”

The renovations are the brain child of Wayne Crawford, director of projects and special operations at Newtown High School, who had a “dream” of creating the first-ever football team in the school’s history. Crawford, like Psoras, believes there is an enormous opportunity to make history with the school’s first football team.

“You have a chance to be the first win, the first rushing touchdown. It’s just a great experience when you’re at a place that’s got such a rich history to be the first anything,” Crawford said.

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, Assembly Member Jessica González-Rojas, Council Members Shanel-Thomas Henry and Shekar Krishnan, New York CityDeputy Chancellor of School Operations Kevin Moran and over a dozen students joined school staff for the groundbreaking, with Richards committing $2.5 million in funding for the second phase of the renovations during the event.

Richards said the addition of a state-of-the-art atheltic field would help ensure that students feel supported and invested in, “regardless of socioeconomic status.”

“Disinvestment has long undermined our schools’ ability to offer the kind of athletic programs that keep kids active, engaged and out of trouble,” Richards said. “You don’t have to live on First Avenue to have a quality field in this world.”

Krishnan, who contributed $750,000 in funding for the renovations, said the new field would help provide students with a space to play and keep active in a district with the least amount of green and open space in the city.

“Renovations like this one are lifelines for our school, our community and our outdoor planning,” Krishnan said. “This field will not only host Newtown’s incredible student athletes… but also include the whole student body through physical education programs, wellness initiatives and media activities.”

Krishnan added that Newtown High School has long served as a “gateway of opportunity” for immigrant families, adding that the renovations will ensure that such diversity can thrive both “on and off the field.”

González-Rojas, whose district does not cover Newtown High School but who represents many of the students who attend the school, described the renovations as “such an important investment” in the nieghborhood’s young people.

“Investments in athletic fields is not just about sports, it’s about wellness, it is about community, it is about teamwork, it is about success of the future of our young people,” González-Rojas said at the groundbreaking.

Moran vowed that the project would come in “on time and under budget,” allowing it to serve the more than 350 student athletes at Newtown High School and the more than 1,750 students who attend the school.