New Press Box Arrives at SHS

On Monday, April 14, Salem High School was greeted with a brand new press box, but it did not arrive without a few delays. The press box, which was supposed to arrive at around 10:30 in the morning, did not arrive at the school until 4:00 PM due to various setbacks such as the delivery truck breaking down while en route.

“They were supposed to start at about 10:30 this morning,” said School Resource Officer Ronnie Mays. “We had the crane set up, and everybody was ready to go. We got a call not too long ago saying their truck broke down, and they’re having to switch trucks and would be there by 1:30 PM… and now they’re an hour late.” It was approximately 2:30 PM at the time.

1:30 PM came and went, and the truck ended up arriving on scene at 4:00 PM.

Video by JD Wade-Swift:

Once at Salem High School, the crew began unhooking the press box from the trailer and proceeded to put straps in place in order to lift it in the air via crane. After hooking it to the crane, unhooking it, readjusting, and finally hooking it up again, the press box was finally ready to fly.

The new press box will prove to be a large improvement over the previous box. Athletic Director Hank Weedin walked me through some of the improvements the new box will bring to the table.

“Size, number one,” said Weedin. “The other one was a small box, and everybody was always on top of each other. We really couldn’t get everyone in there that we needed. It will also provide a second floor for our live streaming class. They will be able to set up all of their producing equipment instead of setting up in the bleachers like they had been doing. They also used to set up equipment under the bleachers, so now they’ll be able to have everything up there in the new box. That’ll be huge for them.”

According to Weedin, the cost of the new press box and installation came out to roughly $498,000 to $500,000, and it will serve as a fantastic improvement to Salem High School.

Enjoy more photos of the installation below!