Over the summer and the beginning of the school year Rice has undergone many improvements and remodels.
Both the admissions office and roof were remodeled but the biggest change lies not in the building, but instead in the athletic complex.
For years talk of getting a turf field has circulated around Rice and it has finally happened. The John P. Larkin Turf at the Bill Landers Field has just been finished and a game has already been played.
“And this isn’t something that suddenly happened this year. This has been in discussions here at Rice far before I arrived on campus,” said Rice’s principal, Andrew Nagy. “So I’m just really happy to see it come to fruition and excited. I’m really excited for the students to be able to play on it.”
Once the official plans began to be laid out in the fall of 2023, everything moved quickly to get the field done.
“There are many steps I learned in the process, which involved an extensive process of permitting, both at the state and city level.” Nagy continued, “So I think being able to bring all the teams together in order to make it happen, and to be able to send everything in that we needed for permitting, that was one of the biggest challenges.”
Permitting was not the only struggle that was faced for the field. Advancements worked hard trying to get the funding for this major project.
“Our office collaborated with the Rice Administration and a few donors who led the strategic plan in making the turf field a reality,” said Nancy Viner, the Director of Leadership Giving. “[It] was funded by the generosity of donors consisting of alumni and current/former parents of Rice.”
However all the hard work has paid off because the field hockey team pulled out a great inaugural game against Essex High School ending with a score of four to zero and other Rice teams look forward to scoring big on the field.
“[The turf] will bring more attention to field hockey and will make playing so much easier,” said Rice junior and field hockey captain Maryann Nunn. “It also changes the shape of the game because our old grass field wasn’t even regulation size.”
However the field hockey team is not the only one that will benefit from this turf field. The soccer and football teams will be able to use the field in the fall. And in the spring the lacrosse teams and ultimate team will be able to use the field earlier in the season. They won’t have to wait for their fields to defrost.
“It’s important to the rice community because of so many sports that are able to be played on it,” said Rice’s Athletic Director Neil Brouder “You can already get one of the best educations in the state here at Rice now, it’s nice that our student-athletes can also play on one of the nicest venues in the state as well.”
This is not the only benefit that athletics will be able to reap from this new field. The field will be regulated so Rice will be able to host playoff games and no longer need to rely on other schools around Vermont.
However it is not just the facilities that make an athletic department. It is the players, the coaches, and the fans working together to positively affect all the student athletes and the Rice community.
“Athletics has done so much for me at Rice. It gives me an opportunity to participate in the activities that I love to do but also has given me many relationships and friends that are so valuable,” said Rice senior and football captain Dallas St. Peter. “Many of these relationships may have not happened if it was not for athletics.”
Alumni have also shown their support for the updates the Rice is getting.
“[It] is an invaluable aspect of the Rice community, allowing every student the opportunity to discover passions and do what they love,” said graduate of the class of 2024 Owen Messino. “Rice enabling me to do that through athletics was something I am eternally grateful for, and I hope the renovations allow more students to have the same opportunity.”
The updates are not over yet! There are plans in the works for Grandstands, a Press Box, and a Snack Shack around the field. Next up the plan is to build a track and tennis/pickleball courts. Finally they are planning to add an addition onto the building which will be a Performing Arts Center and a Chapel.
We at the Knights Banner would love to congratulate Rice as a whole for this new update and we look forward to seeing what will happen next. Go Knights!
