Athletic Facility Needs Makeover: Vote on Facebook!

Walking in, you have to dodge from hitting your head on a pipe. To your right, a pile of VHS tapes from the late 1980s sits in stacks next to Golda Meir's 1975 autobiography. Off in the distance, clothes in garbage bags sit next to high school football practice tackling dummies.

The scene isn't from a Metro Detroit thrift store; it's from an athletic storage room at West Bloomfield High School.

Your votes can change that.

"I've been here 18 years and watched the athletic department grow exponentially," said WBHS assistant principal Pat Watson, who has also worked as a coach and athletic director at the high school. "Last year, we had 878 students participate on teams. But the mess has grown with the program and fixing it has never been a priority."

Thanks to a tip from a sports parent, Watson nominated WBHS for the second annual "Rock UR Athletic Storage" contest from Wisconsin-based storage solution provider Spacesaver. The contest, which runs through May 1, offers two $30,000 athletic equipment storage makeovers to one U.S. college and one U.S. K-12 school.

As Watson's tall frame nearly grazes the storage room's ceiling, partially masking the yellow light which poorly illuminates the collection of Lakers teams of yore, he offers hope that the community will rally around the contest.

"It's an easy thing to do. We're not asking for money, just for kids and their parents to log on to Facebook and vote for us 10 times every day until May," Watson said with a smile.

Watson said that if West Bloomfield wins the contest, the storage facility may be built indoors or out. He added that $30,000 would "easily" cover the cost of housing all of the 26 varsity Lakers teams.

"It had better house all of the teams," he joked. "Kids aren't allowed to come up here. It's too scary."

Help West Bloomfield win!

Instructions on how to enter and vote, sent to West Bloomfield School District parents in an e-mail this week:

1. Go to rockurstorage.com
2. Click on the K-12 edition button
3. Click on the Facebook log-in button.
4. Once you are logged in through Facebook, click on West Bloomfield High School. Scroll down and click a button: "Vote for this school."
5. You get 10 votes a day until May 1, 2012 
6. The system can be a little quirky. You may need to click on “comments” for the voting box to open. Make sure West Bloomfield is listed above the voting box.