Barton Community College’s Board of Trustees has approved the naming rights for the athletic training room, film review lounge, the new Cougar Den and the west concessions hallway.
Athletic Director Trevor Rolfs presented the details at last week’s board meeting. The board has the authority to accept naming gifts based on sufficient monetary gift, honorary recognition, and other reasons the trustees may wish to provide a naming opportunity.
The Physical Education Building is undergoing a $3 million renovation, which is paid for with private donor funds. Noting the college athletics program has been around for 50+ years, the project is called “The Next 50 Physical Education Building Renovation.”
The executive director of Institutional Advancement and the Barton Community College Foundation certified the donations to the Next 50 Physical Education Building Renovation. The amount of the donations is not made public, to protect the privacy of Foundation donors.
Approved were:
• The Athletic Training Room will be named the Dr. Perry & Krista Smith Family Athletic Training Facility.
• The Film Review Lounge will be named the Sundahl Family Film Lounge.
• The New Cougar Den on the south end of the gymnasium will be named the Schugart Family Hall of Fame.
• The West Concessions Hallway will be named the Chris & Julie Spray Family Hall of Champions.
Foundation Director Lindsey Boger commented, “These named spaces are a grateful recognition of the families and individuals who stepped up, gave back, and helped us dream bigger. Thanks to their support of The Next 50 campaign, we didn’t just get new facilities. We are able to create opportunities, lifelong memories, and a stronger future for our students and our community.
“Every bit of this project was made possible by private donor support, and we couldn’t be more thankful. It’s because of some truly amazing people that these upgrades happened. We’re excited to keep the momentum going and we look forward to recognizing even more individuals and families along the way.”
Rolfs added, “Barton Athletics is strong, and highly regarded as one the top athletic programs in the NJCAA in large part because of the tremendous support we have from our stakeholders. I look forward to the continued process of doing everything we can to keep Barton on top!”
Other business
These names were approved by the board on July 22. The board also approved hiring Tyson Downing as the assistant men’s basketball coach, John Raacke to teach psychology and Elisenda Pierce as a custodian.
The board also approved the published budget and the operational budget as discussed at the July study session. The published budget aims to be “revenue neutral,” meaning it will seek roughly the same amount of tax dollars as last year. The Revenue Neutral Rate (RNR) for Fiscal Year 26 was provided by the County and is 27.166 mills. This year’s levy is 28.678 mills. This should generate slightly less in tax dollars than what was requested last year.
