In the classroom and on the field, it will be a year of firsts in Palmerton Area School District.

Palmerton's soccer, football and field hockey teams will be the first to play on a synthetic turf surface in the athletic stadium.District officials are hopeful that the teams can begin using the field for practice this week."We're extremely happy with how everything turned out and think it looks spectacular," Superintendent Scot Engler said of the finished product. "The big bonus for us will be that after the softball field is completed, we'll have all of our events on one campus."Other work at the stadium site included an eight-lane synthetic track, bleachers, earthwork, utility improvements and the installation of underground detention systems. All topsoil from the main athletic field was removed and placed on the adjacent practice field. Palmerton and Blue Bombers are stitched into the respective end zones. Game lines for football, field hockey and soccer are also stitched directly into the turf.The first official event at the stadium will be the Sept. 8 varsity football game.According to Engler, the track will be completed this fall. The track surface will be painted in the Sherwin Williams "Blueblood" color.Work continues on a softball field addition to the east of the junior high parking lot. Whether the softball team gets on the field this season or next will be dependent on how fast the grass comes in, Engler said."The new softball field will alleviate a lot of safety concerns, especially in the infield with kids getting scraped up, that we had down at Seventh Street," Engler said. "You also won't have to worry about balls going out onto Delaware Avenue or the transportation of student athletes getting down there to play or practice."Students and staff in Towamensing and S.S. Palmer elementary schools will be the first to experience building wide air conditioning."Three out of four buildings now have air conditioning," Engler said. "We're just tweaking and balancing the systems at Palmer and Towamensing getting that ready to go. The junior high air conditioning will be the last to be completed as part of that building's renovation project."Work also continues on the 13,000-square-foot addition to the junior high, which will give the building its own cafeteria. The addition will allow for greater flexibility in scheduling for both the junior high and high schools.The stadium upgrades, softball field addition and junior high expansion cost the district nearly $13 million based on contracts awarded earlier this year.The district awarded four contracts, including general construction, to Penn Builders Inc. ($8,669,350); plumbing construction to Myco Mechanical Inc. ($963,900); heating, ventilation and air conditioning construction to JBM Mechanical Inc. ($2,384,100) and electrical construction to George J. Hayden ($993,600).