This school year brought about a new tradition aimed at bringing together programs from Turner Recreation Commission, Turner Middle School, and Turner High School. This event, the Turner Black & Gold Showcase, originated as a thought from the high school head football coach, Shelby Steffen, “[I wanted to] create an atmosphere where our community and families can see how great our district is.”

While the intent for the showcase was based on bringing together programs at all grade levels, the longterm impact is to encourage more students to be involved in school athletics and activities, which has a positive effect on student outcomes.

About that, Steffen said, “[the event] allows our youth and middle school programs to be involved and see what we have to offer at the high school level. Having all of our sports and programs highlighted at once creates a positive school culture which will help get more students interested in different activities. When students are involved in activities, they have a higher chance of graduating high school.”

Turner Middle School Athletic Director Alex Grogan had a similar hope for the event. “I want our community to see the importance of getting students involved in extracurricular activities. It was wonderful to see elementary, middle, and high school students all participating in sports. I want our elementary and middle school students to know what it feels like to play on the high school field and see the high school athletes as role models.”

The showcase took coordination and planning between the coaching staff, athletic directors, and Turner Recreation. It took place on Friday, August 23rd, and was a scrimmage-style event, meaning Turner teams all played one another.

The scrimmages took place amongst fall athletics teams - volleyball, soccer, and football - in the high school gymnasium and District Activities Center, which houses the football field and soccer field. During the scrimmages, the youth, middle school, and high school cheerleaders led the stands through Golden Bear cheers and the band performed the alma mater. As the evening progressed, additional high school teams and programs - golf, choir, cross country, and dance - were recognized.

This first annual event was a great start to the 24 - 25 athletics season. Thank you to our community for coming out to support our Turner student athletes at all levels! It was neat to see in one evening how these programs all build on one another.

Coach Steffen felt the event was a success, “I would personally like to thank everybody who helped out and make the event possible. I know it took a lot of work, but it was a massive step forward in growing these programs in our community.”