Recently, the Trash Panda baseball team announced that the new stadium in Madison would be called the Toyota Stadium.

Bob Jones students in Mr. Lanford’s construction academy as well as James Clemens construction students recently toured the stadium and shared their experience with the school board. Students on this field trip learned about a variety of career areas. Students got to see first-hand how the construction, landscaping, engineering, masonry, and management fields worked together to keep the stadium project on track.

Steven Lanford, the construction academy teacher at Bob Jones, explained that this trip was beneficial for the students because it gave them the opportunity to “actually s[ee] the working of a construction site[,] the many subcontractors involved, workers, safety aspects, and they were able to apply what they have learned by reading and studying. It also gave them quite a few new contacts for them to explore when it comes time for them to secure a job.”

In an interview with Mayor Finley before fall break, he shared that he felt the project was going well. He also explained the rationale behind the name of the Rocket City Trash Pandas and elaborated on why the city chose Rocket City over Madison. “If you live in Gurley or Decatur, are you going to buy a Madison hat? You’ll buy a Rocket City hat because it’s the bigger community.” The team has already sold over $1 million in gear and sold out of the first round of season tickets, so the naming strategy appears to have worked. Hopefully, the community will be as excited about the name of the stadium.