A new state-of-the-art field house is set to begin construction on April 23, with hopes of bringing a new sense of excitement and community to Jupiter High School.

The idea of a new field house being built started in 2021 after a community member donated money to Jupiter High School to create a new locker room for the football team.

“Our current locker room for our football players is actually a storage closet,” Dr. Colleen Iannetti, Jupiter High School Principal, said. “The majority was paid for by a single donor and then we started the Jupiter Warrior Foundation and we had a gala last year so we raised additional funds through the gala to offset some of the rising construction costs.”

The new facility will hold a locker room, showers, a classroom to watch game highlights as well as coaching offices. The field house will be located on the current practice field where the shot put is currently located. It will be 3,000 square feet as sports teams will still be permitted to practice there.

“I think we need to keep our facilities, which are among the best of any public school in the state, but we need to keep them cutting edge because the simple fact is we’re competing for attention from private schools, other public schools [and] choice schools,” Michael Deleonardo, former football coach and student government advisor, said. “As the landscape of high school athletics changes, we have to show prospective students that we have something to offer that other schools don’t have.”

With the construction of the field house, the school community is hoping for a change in atmosphere when it comes to athletics. An interesting feature of the new field house will be the roll up door on the side of the building.

“I think it’s going to create a really positive atmosphere for our teams,” Iannetti said. “They can actually roll up the door and run out of the field house onto the field. So we’re excited about that.”

A ceremony will be held on April 23 to celebrate this accomplishment, with hopes of many community members and students coming out to support. Construction on the field house is said to take close to nine months with goals of being done this upcoming winter.