MARLBOROUGH – Marlborough High School’s (MHS) new adventure course now has a new name, honoring former teacher and professional baseball player Kenneth Reynolds.
The Marlborough School Committee voted earlier this month to rename the course. The course, which presents a combination of physical and teamwork challenges to users, is located on a series of structures hung from utility poles on the MHS campus.
Speaking at the School Committee’s June 14 meeting, Marlborough Public Schools Health and Wellness Supervisor Todd Turcotte noted that Reynolds was a physical education teacher in the Marlborough Public Schools for more than 30 years. He was also an instructor for the school’s Project Adventure program, which utilized a former iteration of the district’s adventure course.
Reynolds won a teacher of the year award in 1998, and he is in the Marlborough High School Athletic Hall of Fame, Turcotte said.
“Mr. Reynolds is Marlborough Public Schools high school wellness,” Turcotte said.
Turcotte asked the district to acknowledge Reynolds in the fall with a small ceremony and a plaque at the newly christened adventure course.
The School Committee was supportive of the idea. But members were initially unsure whether they had the authority to name the adventure course.
Superintendent Michael Bergeron said that naming buildings is a function of the City Council.
“But, nobody said anything about an adventure course,” said School Committee member Katherine Hennessy.
The committee then did vote to rename the course.
Reynolds still lives in Marlborough.
He graduated from MHS in 1964 before the Philadelphia Phillies drafted him two years later in the fourth round.
A left-handed pitcher, Reynolds played for the Phillies, the Milwaukee Brewers, the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Diego Padres.
Turcotte said that the school’s new adventure course is state of the art, adding that “most schools would be dying to have [it].”
The course at MHS was built in two phases, with work wrapping up around Thanksgiving of last year.
Speaking to the Community Advocate, Physical Education teacher Kevin Cormier said that the old course had to be taken down because it was on the site of the new Goodnow Brothers Elementary School.
Cormier said that MHS has had a project adventure class for more than two decades.
RELATED CONTENT
Ken Reynolds played pro baseball, but found his true passion in teaching
