Southborough-At the beginning of October 2019, P. Brent Trottier Middle School, located in Southborough, MA, had a new track constructed on their school campus.

The Trottier track, originally built-in 1998, is used by the community, Trottier, and other local schools. However, the recent degrading condition of the track has caused an increased risk of injury when in use, which sparked a myriad of debates amongst the community. Thus, to resolve the arguments, the school and recreation department decided to make the combined decision to start the grand project of reconstructing the track.

The organizer of the project and vice-principal of the Trottier Middle School, Gary Hreshuk, said, “The project was not easy to begin. Many debated on whether we should have extended to the average size of a track, which is around 400 meters long.” However, in the end, they settled at maintaining it at 300 meters. When asked about the benefits of the new track, student Jonathan Gutner claims, “ I could feel much less stress being put on my knee, which evidently improved my time on the gruesome mile. The only thing was that it took so long!” 

Repercussions of the long construction process included delaying the fitness test, which pushed back the gym curriculum quite a bit.

Trottier is fortunate to have been granted this new track. The track would come in way too expensive for other schools to afford, coming in with a price of $249,600. Students and residents need to use the track with respect and kindness.