Tennis Editorial

While no tears were shed, the tennis courts were often found with water on them. On hot spring days, ground moisture would seep through the cracks and puddle on the concrete.

Because of this, the 2017 boys tennis team was not allowed to hold home matches. The courts were not considered to meet the standards to host.

Construction to repair the problem began, in summer, creating an obstacle for the tennis program. Every summer, open court practices occur for anyone interested in trying out for the team. Graciously, Howell’s sister schools, stepped in to help. Howell Central and Howell North shared their courts on certain days of the week, both for the open court practices and the annual summer tennis camp.

Construction finished at the beginning of September.

The district funded the construction, where a drainage system was installed under the courts, cracks were filled, certain areas were resurfaced, and finally painted in the areas where cracks were filled.

Although, the courts are ready to use, this is not a permanent fix. While the district continues to monitor the status of the courts, and works to find a permanent solution to the water leakage, as of now, the courts are still visibly not ideal.

The paint job remains unfinished, with different shades of blue and green scattered around the courts, many nets have broken loose from the ground, and have tears in them.

While the district's efforts are appreciated, the courts still remain an embarrassment and don’t align with the excellence Howell stands for. They need to be brought up to standard as soon as possible.

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Being my first time writing an editorial, approaching this story was intimidating for various reasons. While I feel that I have developed a lot as a writer throughout my time in yearbook, I am still always less confident in my writing skills than I am with photography or even designing now. Editorials were a completely new realm of journalistic writing that I had never stepped foot into. However, my passion for this topic and easy access to accurate information made writing this story much more enjoyable. The biggest problem I faced while writing this story was myself; originally, I was almost censoring my argument and true opinions towards this issue because I was afraid of sounding ungrateful or being problematic. However, in doing so, I only deprived the story of a solid argument and failed to express what changes I was advocating for. With Ms. Dunaway's help, I shaped the story into what it is. While I recognize that this editorial is by no means extraordinary, it introduced me to the influence I could have as a student journalist. Hopefully I raised awareness about some of the effects of our school's low budgets and helped students understand how the district's budget cuts affect us.