Leadership Stockton class dedicates baseball field

JANUARY 2009 - On Wednesday Dec. 10^th the Leadership Stockton Class of 2008 dedicated the newly constructed baseball field to the students at Nightingale Elementary. The celebration kicked off at 1 pm with a welcome and story about the field by Scott Harper (LS ’08). Kathryn Byers, Principal of Nightingale Elementary, then thanked everyone for coming, cut the ribbon and a ceremonial first pitch thrown out by Chip Kerlee of Granite Construction and caught by Wilmarieann Gaa, an eighth grade student from Nightingale.

The Leadership Stockton Class of 2008 then donated some baseball equipment and field upkeep equipment to the children of Nightingale. After the ceremony, the field was turned over to the kids and each class took turns running the bases. Mayor-Elect Ann Johnston, Chamber CEO Doug Wilhoit, Leadership Stockton Alumni, Dave Lowry and Chip Kerlee from Granite Construction, Rick Brewer from SUSD, Pam Ulyshen from PRIDESTAFF and Splash from the Stockton Ports joined Nightingale students and members of the Class of 2008 for the festivities.

As you read in the pages of the Port O Call last year, the Leadership Stockton Class of 2008 adopted Nightingale Elementary for their yearlong project. And although their class ended in June, they were not done with the field.

The original scope of the project was extremely large and the class managed to accomplish almost 100 percent of its goals. Over the course of the class year, the Leadership Stockton Class of 2008 was able to get 137 bikes donated for last Christmas’ perfect attendance bike drawing, held a successful winter food and coat drive, teamed up with Comcast to clean up the school, repainted the playground lines and world map, weeded the garden, and provided an 8^th grade promotion ceremony, along with an 8^th grade BBQ and dance.

Overall the Leadership Stockton Class of 2008 was able to secure around $20,000 in cash and in-kind donations to make this project possible.

The only part missing when the Class ended in June was the baseball field. All the other parts of the project progressed rather smoothly and the baseball field started off the same. The Class went out and scouted the location and received approved backstop plans from Stockton Unified School District.

Granite Construction graciously donated its time and services to come out to skin and grade the infield. But when Granite showed up to grade the original site where the new baseball field was to be constructed, a burrowing owl popped its head out of what was thought to be a dormant nest. The Burrowing Owl is an endangered species so, before they started construction, the local California Fish and Game office was called to come out and take a look.

California Fish and Game decided the nests were still active and we could not disturb the burrowing owl nests. The Class had come too far to turn back. They had the Fish and Game representative take a look at the ground on the other side of the playground. After they got the thumbs up that there were no burrowing owl nests on the new site, Granite graded the ground and skinned the infield.

The Leadership Stockton team then came out and set the bases, built the pitching mound, spread some extra dirt, and arranged to have the backstop erected. Where there was once an empty grass field a baseball field now stands. It is a testament to the hard work and perseverance of the Leadership Stockton Class of 2008 that the field was completed. With all the obstacles they encountered many people might have given up. The baseball field is just the icing on the cake, with all the other facets of the project completed during the year this truly has been one of the biggest projects in recent Leadership Stockton history.

This project could not have been completed without the help and support of our community. A big thank you to Northwoods Consulting Partners, Inc. for donating the backstop, to Granite Construction for donating their time and services in creating the infield, to All-Star Sports for all the baseball equipment and know-how on constructing the diamond. And to everyone who pitched in throughout the year with donations of time and money.