Gregori High breaks ground on $10M aquatics center set to open by early 2027

Modesto City Schools broke ground Wednesday on construction of a long-awaited aquatics center at Gregori High School.

Set to open by early 2027, the aquatics center will feature a 12-lane, 50-meter pool for competitions, with shaded seating and a building with restrooms and equipment.

The project is funded by Measure L, passed in November 2022 by 56% of voters to provide the district $198 million in bond revenue for campus improvements. According to a press release, the school has more than 100 aquatics athletes who will benefit from having a pool on campus. This will be the seventh pool in the Modesto City Schools district, giving all seven of the district’s comprehensive high schools a pool for aquatics athletes.

Davis High School will also be getting a new pool on the same timeline as Gregori High School, but Davis’ will be a replacement because its current pool is too shallow for some aquatics competitions.

Superintendent Vanessa Buitrago, Trustees Chad Brown, Jolene Daly, Cindy Marks and John Ervin III, Gregori High School Principal Phillip Jaramillo and a few of the school’s water polo and swim athletes used gold shovels to break ground where the pool will be.

Buitrago joked with the aquatics athletes attending the groundbreaking that her only request “is that you bring home lots of trophies.” She emphasized that the aquatics center’s shaded seating is an important component for community support.

“It’s just not the same when students are out there competing. It’s nice to feel the love and to know that your mom and dad and siblings and neighbors are watching you,” Buitrago said. “It definitely comes with a sense of pride.”

With no pool on campus, Gregori water sports athletes have been driving to Downey High School for their practices every evening, students said. They hope the pool will not only end their commutes for practice but also bring more participation in Gregori’s swim and water polo teams.

“Some of my teammates from last year decided not to do water polo this year because of the commute,” junior Noé Saldaña said. “I feel like it’s going to bring in a lot more players, it’s going to bring in a lot more competition and it’s going to give us that step up to compete with other schools that we’ve been missing out on.”

Junior Isabella Lizarraga-Barba has been an aquatics athlete for 11 years. She said she’s excited for the campus to have its own pool and bragged to her older sister, who graduated from Gregori in 2021, that the Jaguars finally will have one.

“[Commuting] has been hard on academics ’cause practice starts at 5:30 p.m. and ends at 8 p.m., so by the time you’re home, you only have a little time to eat and talk to your family, which is not really time for homework and stuff. I feel like that affected us a lot,” Lizarraga-Barba said.

Jaramillo said the groundbreaking was 15 years in the making — Gregori opened in August 2010 — and a celebration of the commitment and hard work of student athletes, their parents and the district.

“I want to recognize the parents and our students who for years endured the challenges of traveling across town for practices and competitions day after day, year after year,” Jaramillo said. “You committed yourselves, despite the great inconvenience and sacrifice. Your patience and perseverance have inspired us all and kept the dream of this pool alive.”