PARLIER – Generations of Parlier Unified School District students and staff came together to usher in a new era of extracurricular opportunities.
On Sept. 16, district staff and community members gathered for the groundbreaking ceremony of Parlier High School’s new stadium. Attendees filled the school’s multipurpose cafeteria to remember past experiences with the original stadium, while celebrating the fulfillment of a promise now decades in the making.
“When I was a senior at Parlier High School, I never envisioned a day where 25 years later I would be here doing something about (the stadium),” said PUSD Superintendent Rafael Iniguez during the ceremony. “I heard coaches … back in the day, and they would tell students and tell alumni, ‘Someday, come back in the future and help us out to do something about it.’ That stuck with me.”
Every aspect of the Parlier High School community was on display leading into the ceremony, from the cheer team and band welcoming attendees on campus, to the high turnout of students both current and former.
Alongside Iniguez, the event saw a full program of speakers including PHS Spanish teacher and former soccer coach Fausto Ruiz, Fresno County Superintendent of Schools Michele Cantwell-Copher, PUSD Board of Trustees President Martin Mares and more.
Evan Torres, class of 2024, also offered comments during the ceremony, sharing his perspective on the new stadium as a former high school — and now collegiate — athlete.
“As a student athlete at Fresno Pacific, competing in cross country and track, I understand even more how important it is for students to have a place where they can work, where they can grow and pursue something they love,” said Torres in his speech. “I believe this new facility is going to make students of Parlier’s opportunities excellent.”
After the lineup of speakers, the PHS Band and cheer team led attendees to the field to ceremoniously break ground on the future stadium. District board members, local officials and residents then took turns tossing dirt onto the grounds which will house the new facility.
The primarily Measure P-funded project is planned to bring artificial turf, an all-weather track, nearly double the seating capacity, expanded lighting systems and more. In an interview, Iniguez said he hopes to see construction completed around September of next year.
Beyond the direct benefits to sports and other extracurricular activities the stadium aims to bring, Iniguez feels the project represents an important step for student equity.
“When our kids go to other districts and they see beautiful facilities, beautiful uniforms and everything else, they sense that disparity directly or indirectly,” Iniguez said. “By us having a brand new stadium, it increases that sense of pride.”
Throughout the ceremony, each speaker concluded their comments with the mantra, “Once a Panther, always a Panther,” and this rang especially true for attendees like Jerrell Gutierrez, graduate of the 1997 class.
In an interview after the ceremony, Gutierrez shared that he and his family have been supporters of Parlier school sports for years, and referred to the groundbreaking as “real history.” Being a former student himself, he expressed bittersweet, but mostly excited, feelings about saying goodbye to the stadium as he knew it.
“It’s perfect to be here and see it for the first and last time,” said Gutierrez. “Pretty soon, when my future great nephews and great nieces are born, I can tell them this story and that I was here.”
