HOULTON, Maine — Thanks to donations by the Houlton High School Alumni Association and the Houlton Community Arts Center, a new electronic billboard has been erected at the school to keep people up to date on all the events happening at the school.
Houlton High School Principal Marty Bouchard said Thursday that the sign was about two years in the making. Although the sign cost about $27,000, it was funded without using taxpayers money. The Houlton High School Alumni Association was a major sponsor for the new sign, coming up with $15,000.
“We put some money in a couple of years ago for a special project and added some more in this year,” said Nancy Ketch, alumni president. “We think it’s a great way to promote the school and all of the many wonderful activities that are going on here. We are very proud of the school and happy to support them.”
The Houlton Community Arts Center also donated $5,000 and the remaining $7,000 came from other sources that were not a part of the school’s operating budget.
“This new sign is a great way to promote everything that is going on at the school and can also be used to promote the Houlton Community Arts Center,” added Kevin Mania, band director at the high school and board member of the HCAC. “It makes it easier for every group to easily advertise events.”
The electronic billboard replaces an older style illuminated sign that required someone to go out and change the messages manually with individual letters. That sign was erected in 2004, but had started to warp considerably, Bouchard said.
Bouchard said updating the information on the sign would be his responsibility, along with office staff members.
“There has been a lot of things we have wanted to recognize over the years, like students of the month, teacher accolades, school events and things like that, that we were not able to do with the other sign,” Bouchard said. “The functionality of the sign is such that we are now able to celebrate so many things in our school community.”
