On April 27, alumni and faculty gathered in front of Newbury Park High School [NPHS] to present a $5,000 check gifted by the Alumni Foundation for the NPHS weight room project. The funds were raised directly by NPHS alumni, with the goal of creating sustainable change for athletics on campus.
Spearheading the project was Juliane Detweiler, former boys’ football booster president and mother of two NPHS alumni. “We saw a need at this school [with] budget cuts and these kids sacrificing events and just support for the athletics and activities,” Detweiler said. “And we said, ‘Why are the alumni not supporting this school?’” Detweiler proposed the nonprofit foundation to Stephen Lepire, NPHS principal, and, along with two others, helped to get the foundation on its feet with small events and tailgates.
The weight room donation will be used for updating athletic equipment, and is a small portion of the larger weight room project, which is part of the Measure I funding that was granted to CVUSD in 2014. The project will see a new weight room replace the current boys’ locker room facility, while the current weight room will be turned into a dance room. “It will be available for all of our students that take physical education classes throughout the year, as well as all of our sports teams,” Lepire said. “So we’re probably talking about touching over two-thirds of our student body at some point during their school year.”
Chris Soury, Physical Education Department Chair and Assistant Football Coach, believes that the donation will reach further than just those taking standard athletics classes. “I think it really helps our entire school, not just athletics, not just PE, but anybody who’s interested in [exercising by] giving them updated and new equipment to be able to use to better themselves,” Soury said.
The weight room donation was only the tip of the iceberg of the Alumni Foundation’s aspirations. “Our next goal is [that] we are working towards helping and supporting the girls’ flag football team, because they have done everything on no budget,” Detweiler said. “And we see a need, and we see that Coach Wood is an amazing coach, and can use our support.” Along with these projects, the foundation has also established two alumni scholarships for graduating seniors.
Detweiler attributes much of the foundation’s success to its partnership with Cronies Ice Cream, which helped her team get on their feet through fundraisers and hosting meetings. The foundation has also reached NPHS alumni like Soury, who greatly appreciates its purpose. “It’s a way to give back to those institutions that really helped shape you as a person. You know, the lessons that you learned here….You hear about a lot of people donating to the colleges that they went to, but a lot of times, people don’t think back to the high schools,” Soury said.
For Detweiler, the foundation is not just creating tangible change, but strengthening the relationship between students and their campus, beyond graduation. “When you leave Newbury Park High School, it’s not over. These four years were formative years in your life, and you can give back to another student who will be having four formative years in their life,” Detweiler said.
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