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BERLIN, Pa. – Community and teamwork have become synonymous with Berlin Brothersvalley athletics over time.
Ever since Snyder of Berlin, which held the naming rights of the school's athletic facilities since 2004, announced it would close its plant in December, Athletic Director Doug Paul sought out support from local businesses.
He found it in Center Rock Inc., a manufacturer of drilling equipment headquartered in Berlin since 1998. Paul and the Berlin Brothersvalley administration announced the baseball, football and soccer/track and field facilities will be known as Center Rock Inc. Sports Complex for the next 10 years Friday morning.
It was a partnership that made sense for both parties.
"Once I met (Center Rock Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer) Dave (Pietrzykowski) and started talking to him, it's a community-oriented job," Paul said. "I think every single one of their employees that showed up here today are an alum of Berlin, probably 80% of them played sports here at Berlin. It's just the work ethic that their company has. It's stuff that we try to emulate in our athletic programs. It was a match."
Making a firmer imprint into Berlin community was a home run for Pietrzykowski and Center Rock Inc. Pietrzykowski raved about how the Berlin community supports its athletic programs.
"It's really super-important," Pietrzykowski said. "The folks that are here in Berlin, a lot of them work for us. They participate greatly in the community events. I've never seen more community participation anywhere I've lived than here in Berlin. They chase their sports teams hours away in buses and take buses to get there, which is really phenomenal. As you saw, we have a lot of graduates from this particular location. I think it's really important for them when they're coming to these events, when they're coming to watch their children to play, it's a sense of pride to be able to walk under that sign and know that Center Rock has helped better this particular facility. It's really important to us to do that."
After the news of Snyder of Berlin closing its plant, Paul reached out to local businesses.
"They reached out to us," Pietrzykowski said. "What was really nice was Doug put together a letter and sent it out to some of the bigger businesses around and saying, 'Hey, we're going to do some upgrades. Would you be interested in helping?' I'm sure everyone stepped up because there is such a sense of community here in Berlin. It's phenomenal."
Upgrades at the football stadium include crowning the natural grass surface and filling in any low areas, a new scoreboard, light emitting diode lights and an updated sound system. Several local businesses came to the school's aid and wanted to help.
"I'd be remiss if I didn't mention, we do have five other businesses that really stepped up to the plate to help us here in Darr Construction, Somerset Trust, First Peoples, UPMC Somerset and Berlin Oil," Paul said. "Thank you to the community, the businesses. It's a really great thing to come together and see."
Berlin Brothersvalley's gymnasium floor was newly refinished with LED lighting installed. Support from local businesses has made that financially possible.
"In the financial world we're living in right now, especially here in southern Somerset County where you don't have a lot of businesses, school districts are run through taxes and government funding," Paul said. "We just don't have the tax base. You can't keep taxing the senior citizens and then justify for athletics and things like that. These businesses stepping up were huge because they're filling in the gaps that our school district wasn't able to do."
Pietrzykowski sees a lot of similarities between his company and the Berlin community at large.
"One thing I like people to take away is how much we value the employees that we have here," Pietrzykowski said. "It's almost impossible to put into words, but they're the best possible employees you could hope for. The work ethic, integrity, honesty, all of the attributes that they possess are what an employer looks for in their employees. I couldn't ask for anything better than the workforce we have here. The work ethic and the values that have been instilled from their parents, they just carry through into adulthood. It makes for an incredible cross section of talent that we're able to pull from here. We're just really fortunate and blessed to have such a skilled workforce at Center Rock."
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Ever since Snyder of Berlin, which held the naming rights of the school's athletic facilities since 2004, announced it would close its plant in December, Athletic Director Doug Paul sought out support from local businesses.
He found it in Center Rock Inc., a manufacturer of drilling equipment headquartered in Berlin since 1998. Paul and the Berlin Brothersvalley administration announced the baseball, football and soccer/track and field facilities will be known as Center Rock Inc. Sports Complex for the next 10 years Friday morning.
It was a partnership that made sense for both parties.
"Once I met (Center Rock Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer) Dave (Pietrzykowski) and started talking to him, it's a community-oriented job," Paul said. "I think every single one of their employees that showed up here today are an alum of Berlin, probably 80% of them played sports here at Berlin. It's just the work ethic that their company has. It's stuff that we try to emulate in our athletic programs. It was a match."
Making a firmer imprint into Berlin community was a home run for Pietrzykowski and Center Rock Inc. Pietrzykowski raved about how the Berlin community supports its athletic programs.
"It's really super-important," Pietrzykowski said. "The folks that are here in Berlin, a lot of them work for us. They participate greatly in the community events. I've never seen more community participation anywhere I've lived than here in Berlin. They chase their sports teams hours away in buses and take buses to get there, which is really phenomenal. As you saw, we have a lot of graduates from this particular location. I think it's really important for them when they're coming to these events, when they're coming to watch their children to play, it's a sense of pride to be able to walk under that sign and know that Center Rock has helped better this particular facility. It's really important to us to do that."
After the news of Snyder of Berlin closing its plant, Paul reached out to local businesses.
"They reached out to us," Pietrzykowski said. "What was really nice was Doug put together a letter and sent it out to some of the bigger businesses around and saying, 'Hey, we're going to do some upgrades. Would you be interested in helping?' I'm sure everyone stepped up because there is such a sense of community here in Berlin. It's phenomenal."
Upgrades at the football stadium include crowning the natural grass surface and filling in any low areas, a new scoreboard, light emitting diode lights and an updated sound system. Several local businesses came to the school's aid and wanted to help.
"I'd be remiss if I didn't mention, we do have five other businesses that really stepped up to the plate to help us here in Darr Construction, Somerset Trust, First Peoples, UPMC Somerset and Berlin Oil," Paul said. "Thank you to the community, the businesses. It's a really great thing to come together and see."
Berlin Brothersvalley's gymnasium floor was newly refinished with LED lighting installed. Support from local businesses has made that financially possible.
"In the financial world we're living in right now, especially here in southern Somerset County where you don't have a lot of businesses, school districts are run through taxes and government funding," Paul said. "We just don't have the tax base. You can't keep taxing the senior citizens and then justify for athletics and things like that. These businesses stepping up were huge because they're filling in the gaps that our school district wasn't able to do."
Pietrzykowski sees a lot of similarities between his company and the Berlin community at large.
"One thing I like people to take away is how much we value the employees that we have here," Pietrzykowski said. "It's almost impossible to put into words, but they're the best possible employees you could hope for. The work ethic, integrity, honesty, all of the attributes that they possess are what an employer looks for in their employees. I couldn't ask for anything better than the workforce we have here. The work ethic and the values that have been instilled from their parents, they just carry through into adulthood. It makes for an incredible cross section of talent that we're able to pull from here. We're just really fortunate and blessed to have such a skilled workforce at Center Rock."
Continue reading...
