Northern State University celebrated its newly opened Athletic and Recreation Fields with a public ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday, Oct. 24.

NSU administration, student-athletes, city officials and members of the public gathered for the ceremony at the new fields, located east of the former Jerde Hall site.

Northern broke ground on the Athletic and Recreation Fields project in April. The new competition field for the NSU soccer team and new practice field for the NSU football team both opened for the fall 2018 athletic season. A pavilion between the two was recently completed.

The Athletic and Recreation Fields is one of three projects of the Educational Impact Campaign, a collaborative effort between Northern and the South Dakota School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. The other two projects of the Educational Impact Campaign are a new SDSBVI and an on-campus regional sports complex.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held Oct. 17 for the new SDSBVI facility, which is scheduled for completion in 2019. Once SDSBVI has moved into the new school, its current facility will be demolished and work will begin spring 2020 on the regional sports complex, which includes Dacotah Bank Stadium and Koehler Hall of Fame Softball Field. Completion is expected by 2022.

Learn more about campus improvement projects at the NSU Master Plan webpage.