Windham High School has found a new way to raise money for their athletic program. The Bombers are competing in the T-Mobile Friday Night 5G Lights Contest, where small schools across the country compete to receive money to upgrade their athletic programs.
“There are a lot of things that need to be fixed,” Windham Athletic Boosters President Elena Sweet told The Weekly Villager on Aug. 27. “We need a new track for our kids, and our field needs to be replaced and upgraded. I also have been working on the Athletic Boosters Building for concessions.”
Windham has already received a $5,000 grant in the first round of the contest, qualifying to participate by being a community of less than 100,000 residents. Up until Oct. 8, a thousand schools will be awarded a $5,000 grant, and Sweet said that the Bombers have big plans for their initial winnings.
“The first $5,000 is going toward the Athletic Boosters building so that we can upgrade it and help get more money into the sports than just the $5,000 that was initially received so we are trying to make the most out of the $5,000 that we are getting,” she added.
According to Sweet, after recently assuming the role of Athletic Boosters President, she looked for new and creative opportunities that will enable Windham a chance to raise significant funds that would be put toward its athletic program. She credited Athletic Director/track & field Coach Dougle Hankins for making her aware of the T-Mobile contest.
Having already won the initial prize of $5,000, Sweet said there will be several more categories for Windham to participate in, with the chance of winning the grand prize of $1,000,000.
For the second phase, the Bombers will compete in the Spirit Spotlight Awards contest, where four schools will receive an additional $5,000 grant by being judged on their school spirit videos that must be posted on social media platforms including X, Facebook and Instagram. Windham received a rally kit courtesy of T-Mobile, consisting of a Friday Night 5G Lights football, pom poms, window clings and banner.
The four schools that generate the highest number of posts combined from all their videos will be named the winners. Sweet said Windham has received assistance from Hope Town Ohio, a social services organization in Windham, which shot drone footage of Windham and conducted several interviews to be featured in Windham’s spotlight videos.
“If someone shares it and adds the tag and hashtag correctly and I believe if they share my post that already tags T-Mobile, that also counts, but if they make their own posts, they also have to add the hash tag and tag T-Mobile themselves,” she noted.
As far as Sweet is concerned, creating videos celebrating Windham’s school spirit is the easy part, as Bomber pride runs deep in the community.
“It shows how much Windham deserves it to be honest because any school can enter this and I see a lot that have entered and don’t have community members as involved,” she added. “Everyone at Windham wants this so badly that everyone is willing and they want it for their kids but other kids as well. It is not their own personal gain.”
Following the Spirit Spotlight Awards, Windham will compete for the T-Mobile Fan Favorite Award, which consists of a $25,000 grant which awarded to the school T-Mobile selects out of the Eastern Division of the United States.
Beginning on Oct. 8, Sweet said that T-Mobile will select 40 schools out of the Eastern Division to receive a $25,000 grant and the chance to host a T-Mobile Home Game Celebration.
From there, T-Mobile will select four schools, one school out of all four divisions, to receive a $250,000 grant, a $5,000 student leadership award and a Gronk Fitness Gym, courtesy of G&G Fitness Equipment, run by the Gronkowski family, including former NFL tight end and Super Bowl Champion Rob Gronkowski.
The final phase of the contest will be T-Mobile selecting one school out of the final four to be awarded a $1,000,000 grant which must be applied to upgrade a school’s home football stadium.
“I think it would come with a lot of the pride from the kids,” Sweet said. “We do have an amazing field, and I think it would come with the kids knowing that they helped build this. With the track, I see standing water when it rains. I feel like we would do a massive upgrade to the track and the field and everyone would feel a sense of pride to see it upgraded.”
