With help from the Cares Act, which is designed to help improve the educational experience for students, there are some big upgrades coming to Abilene ISD. One part of the plan is to provide Abilene High and Cooper, with their own brand new multi-use indoor turf facilities.

Aaron Roan said, “It’s extremely exciting. I think it’s progress. The amount of kids in our school district that are going to be impacted by this new facility, that’s what makes it awesome.”

According to both Cooper’s Aaron Roan and Abilene High’s Mike Fullen, while their football programs will greatly benefit from the constuction of these new indoor facilities, when built, they’ll be used for more than just sports.

Aaron Roan said, “Not just athletics, I mean it’s fine arts, it’s drill teams, it’s dance, it’s spirit groups, it’s band, it’s ROTC.”

Mike Fullen said, “A lot of people are thinking its just going to impact football. I think it’s going to impact other sports a lot more than it impacts football, and that’s what’s exciting is, the overall impact that it’s going to have on other sports.”

There are also plans to renovate the Shotwell Stadium press box, which hasn’t seen any major changes since the stadium as built in 1959.

Mike Fullen said, “Shotwell’s such an iconic stadium out here, and for it to get a face lift, I think it’s going to help out our community, and really shows the support of our board and our administration.”

Even though these projects are still in the early stages, Fullen says the new facilities and the renevations to Shotwell Stadium will be something the Key City can be proud of.

Mike Fullen said, “We’ve got great tradition on both sides of town and it’s time.”

There are still a lot of questions that need to be answered, but according to coach Fullen, a meeting is going to be held next week to dive into the specifics of the upgrades.