Prairie Grove High School's EAST class will help design a new 18-hole disc golf course around the school campus.
Prairie Grove School Board gave its OK last week for the EAST program to proceed with the project.
Board member Jerry Coyle has offered to pay for the project, including equipment and signs, and also will donate money each year to pay for the upkeep of the golf course.
Coyle said he wants to help build the disc golf course in memory of his son, Keaton Coyle, who passed away in September 2016. Keaton Coyle was a 2006 graduate of Prairie Grove High School and an avid fan of disc golf.
"That was his favorite sport," Jerry Coyle said.
In return for funding the project, the family is asking that the park be named the "Keaton Coyle Memorial Disc Golf Course," or something similar.
Coyle said he already wanted to do something in memory of his son and one day saw some students playing disc golf at the high school. He said he immediately thought that would be a good idea and found out the EAST class wanted to build a nine-hole course. Coyle said he offered to help pay for an 18-hole course.
EAST facilitator Heath Whitley will help his students design the course. Whitley plays disc golf and has helped design courses at other schools and parks.
Allen Williams, superintendent of schools, said work on the project should begin fairly soon. The course will probably use most of the high school campus. One wooded area on the northeast end of the high school property will have to be cleared of undergrowth and smaller trees and Williams said it would be easier to clear out that section before spring growth gets started.
General News on 03/08/2017