Corona del Mar Today: Pool fundraising effort underway

A wall of shimmering, glittering glass fish swarming a Sea King mascot could help fund new locker rooms for the Marian Bergeson Aquatic Center on the Corona del Mar High School campus.

The $1-million project would replace dilapidated restrooms with 3,000 square feet of locker rooms and would be the final improvement to the aquatic center, which was built in 1990, said Angela Kraus, a parent volunteer who spoke to the CdMHS PTA on Wednesday morning. Other improvements have included adding a scoreboard, shade structure and snack bar.

"Every item on our wish list has been completed except a locker room," she said.

Currently, swimmers have only two cold showers and restrooms that she said were a step above portapotties.

"You see a lot of deck changes by boys on visiting teams," Kraus said.

Girls have to change behind makeshift curtains.

The aquatic center was built with funds from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District and city of Newport Beach, and it's operated by a joint agreement between the district and the city. Kraus said the locker room project, which would add changing rooms for boys and girls as well as 10 showers and 76 lockers per room, would cost slightly more than $1 million.

The district, she said, was able to find $325,000 in funds for the project through a state reimbursement for earlier unrelated pool upgrades. And Newport Beach is considering $330,000 for the locker room work as part of its upcoming budget hearings.

That leaves parents trying to raise $350,000 to $450,000, Kraus said, possibly by selling glass fish that will become part of a Sea King Wall mural that will be mounted on the new locker room wall, facing the pool deck.

The 11-inch fish will be made of blue, green and violet iridescent glass and etched with gold letters. Individuals can earn fish with $600 donations, and business entities can earn fish with $1,500 donations. A total of 300 fish will be available, and the deadline to earn a fish is May 31.

"It's going to look like a bunch of rainbow fish, swirling around our Sea King mascot," Kraus said. "It's going to be a focal point as well as a stunning piece of artwork."

Bergeson has been working with Kraus on letters to be sent to possible donors, she said.

The completed locker room will make the Corona del Mar pool complex "head and shoulders above the rest," Kraus said.

For more information, including drawings of the proposed locker rooms, click here.