Corbin High School plans academic signing day on Monday (May 6)

We’ve all seen the pictures and/or the video after a star high school athlete that gets a scholarship offer to play at a major university and verbally commits to play sports at that institution of higher learning.

Sometimes it’s a production for the entire student body. The school wheels out a special backdrop in the school gym or auditorium.

The star athlete is seated behind a table that has a banner on the front listing the player’s new college on it. The player takes a seat surrounded by his parents and/or high school coaches. Then the player signs a letter of intent to accept the scholarship offer as a slew of people snap pictures with their cellphones.

For those out there, who would contend that students accepting academic scholarships is just as important as athletic scholarships, the Corbin Independent School District doesn’t disagree with you.

In fact, this month they are planning an event to honor some academic accomplishments in a similar manner.

Corbin High School Principal Steve Jewell told the Corbin Independent Board of Education Thursday that an academic signing day is planned for Monday, May 6, at the high school.

The morning will start out with faculty giving out their departmental awards to students before the academic scholarship signings will take place later that morning.

Parents will be sitting in the stands and seniors will be seated on the gym floor. Then seniors will come forward to sign the paperwork to get their college scholarships at their respective tables whether it might be the University of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, the University of the Cumberlands or any number of other schools.

“We actually have one person going to Yale. We just found out,” Jewell noted.

He added it may take 30 minutes or 90 minutes to get all 180 academic signings done.

“We are hoping these academic signings will be similar to athletic signings and we will get photos of these students and what they have achieved just like we like we do with the athletes,” said Board Chairperson Todd Childers.

Also, Jewell announced that several Corbin students have been named as governor’s scholars in 10 different areas, and that three other students are on the alternate’s list to be governor’s scholars.

The Governor’s Scholars Program is a summer residential program for outstanding high school students in Kentucky who are rising seniors. The program originated in 1983 as a result of Kentucky leaders’ concern that the state’s “best and brightest” were leaving the Commonwealth to pursue educational and career opportunities elsewhere without fully understanding the potential of their talents at home. Students who are selected attend the program without charge, according to the Governor’s Scholars Program’s website.

In addition, during Thursday’s meeting, the board adopted a resolution authorizing the Corbin Independent School District Finance Corporation to issue $7 million in revenue bonds for the second phase of the Corbin High School football stadium renovation project.

Revenue bonds are the government equivalent of a home mortgage for private citizens, and are used to finance government construction projects.

Even after the issuance of these bonds, Corbin still has about $18 million in bonding potential that could be put towards future projects over the next 18 months or so, explained Bob Tarvin, vice-president of RSA Advisors, which is the group helping issue the bonds for the district.

The second phase of the football stadium project includes a new parking lot, which will have about 75-80 parking spots where some houses formerly sat. This lot will be ready for the start of next year’s football season.

Completion of the varsity club pavilion is also expected to be done before the start of the next football season. It will sit at an angle next to the end zone. It will have a fire place in the corner, benches all the way around, ceiling fans and lights, and a grilling station. School officials plan to use it for other purposes too.

Renovation of the visitor’s locker room and renovation of the visitor’s side press box isn’t expected to be completed until April 1, 2025. Once the visitor’s side press box work expansion has been completed, it opens up the possibility of instant replay being shown on the stadium’s video score board, which debuted last year.

The system to handle video replay is larger than what the existing press box on the home side of the stadium can handle.

In other business, the board:

• Approved the final calendar amendment for the 2023-2024 school year. The last day for classes will be May 17. Graduation will take place on Sunday, May 19, at the Corbin Arena.
• Met in executive session towards the close of the meeting, but took no final action.