DENVER — It's been one year since Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Early College debuted its brand new gymnasium. The facility brought varsity athletics to the school for the first time, providing new opportunities for student-athletes.
The Panthers boy's basketball team said the new space is already making a positive impact.
"It really changed the whole morale of our school," senior guard Joshua Aryeetey said. "We have concessions now, kids pop out to the games, we've got a lot of things going for us, so I really do enjoy it."
Head Coach Nikki Weddle remembers when the DMLK was her middle school back in the 90s.
"For it to become a high school as well made it full circle, so it was very exciting," Weddle said. "You start seeing school spirit posters going up, just to bring back that high school feeling is dope."
Coach Weddle knows exactly what it feels like to be a star player in high school. She was named Miss Colorado Basketball in 1997 after leading Montbello High School to an undefeated season and its first state title.
Weddle continued her basketball career in college at CU and DU, and later played professionally overseas. Now, she's passing on that passion to the boy's basketball program at DMLK.
"I'm trying to build that seed here at DMLK," Weddle said. "Right now we're 3-2 so I'm proud of my boys."
Weddle spends her free time helping her players get better no matter the time of day.
"She comes with me early in the morning, and she lets me stay after practice to get extra work in," Aryeetey said. "I mean I'm very grateful to have her as my coach, she pushes us to be the best and I couldn't ask for better."
The $20 million gym project was paid for by Denver taxpayers and it's providing opportunities that are priceless.
"If we had programs like these earlier, I feel like a lot of my friends would've made better decisions, so I really enjoy opportunities to come out here and ball out on behalf of the opportunity," Aryeetey said. "Even if don't feel confident in myself, when I see this gym I'm like 'hey people are counting on me,' so it subconsciously makes me want to do better regardless."
