St. John Bosco breaks ground on new athletic center

BELLFLOWER – St. John Bosco High School celebrated a milestone July 9 which kicked-off its next 75 years by breaking ground on an a world-class athletic complex for student-athletes to utilize beginning in October 2015. 

Once construction is complete, the athletic complex will occupy more than 124,000 square feet of the school’s 36-acre campus. 

Included in the construction is a storm water catchment system which will collect all rain and runoff water, clarify it and return it to the aquifer, eliminating waste. 

The all-weather running track surface will be the standard distance of 400 meters and include an eight-lane 120-meter straightaway. The infield playing surface will consist of Astroturf RootZone turf - the latest in artificial sports surfaces. 

The complex also will feature a scoreboard for track and field meets, soccer and football. 
In addition to hosting track meets, the complex will serve as a practice and competition facility for soccer, football, lacrosse and rugby. Youth soccer teams from the surrounding communities of Downey and Cypress also will compete on the field. 

“We all know the impact of the drought in Southern California, and Bosco is proud to generate a savings of 4.16 million gallons of water each year. When you consider that the average Southern California household uses about 46,000 gallons of water per year, you can see the exciting impact that Bosco will have,” remarked Paul Escala, president, St. John Bosco High School. “We also are delighted to provide a state-of-the-art athletic venue for our students that encourages healthy living and exercise through athletics and environmental stewardship.”

The groundbreaking also marked the start of renovation on the traditional library which upon completion will be transformed into a state-of-the-art learning commons for students to collaborate, create, relax and socialize. 

The learning commons will feature polished concrete floors, exposed ceilings, contemporary furniture and advanced technology for students to utilize. Students will enjoy more than 4,500 square feet of modern space, four group collaboration rooms, a makerspace with a robotics lab, individual work stations, countertop charging stations, breakout spaces, couches and bean bags. 

Students also will have access to check out electronic devices and choose from more than one million digital titles from a global library.

Future modernization projects at the campus include updating the Biology laboratory, new bleachers in the gymnasium and fiber optic Wi-Fi campus-wide.