Dexter Regional High School receives $75,000 from T-Mobile Friday Night 5G Lights contest
DEXTER — Dexter Regional High School now has $75,000 to put toward upgrades to the football field thanks to T-Mobile.
The school finished third in T-Mobile’s Friday Night 5G Lights contest this fall with more than 500,000 online votes being cast from around the country, receiving $50,000 along with another $25,000 for being one of 25 national finalists. The money was ceremonially awarded in the form of two large checks at the start of an all-school assembly during the afternoon of Friday, Nov. 14 in the Ed Guiski Gymnasium.
T-Mobile representatives appreciated the opportunity and everything the school and community did in the contest, T-Mobile Maine Rural Market Manager Nick Nowell told the audience.
“For a school this size to come in third place in the country was just a fantastic turnout,” he said.
A third contest is being planned for 2026, Nowell said.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS CONTEST — Dexter Regional High School was presented with a combined $75,000 from T-Mobile on Nov. 14 for finishing third nationally in T-Mobile’s Friday Night 5G Lights contest and being one of 25 finalists from around the country. A committee will begin the planning process for upgrading the school football field.
“That $75,000 is going to go a long way and make lighting at the facility here at Dexter Regional High School a reality,” Assistant Principal/Athletic Director Adam Gudroe said, saying there will be more information on the project once planning begins.
“This is huge for us and for a lot of what you have done, with all the social media posts, you should give yourselves a big hand,” he said.
“We are super appreciative of being in this position and the opportunity that T-Mobile has given us,” Gudroe said after the presentation. “Third in the county, not bad. We were going for first but to come away with [$75,000] feels pretty good.”
With more than 2 million votes received out of the 8 million cast for 25 national finalists, Dierks High School in southwestern Arkansas won the $1 million prize.
Lebanon High School in northwestern Oregon came in second with nearly 1.5 million votes.
$70,000 — By finishing third in T-Mobile’s Friday Night 5G Lights contest, Dexter Regional High School added another $50,000 to its total haul from the competition that already included $25,000 for being one of 25 national finalists.
“It feels good to be recognized as a community and all the hard work that we put in to make this a possibility for our students and our community,” Gudroe said. “All the work we put in, it was worth it.”
Gudroe previously explained the challenges of maintaining the current grass field given the realities of Maine weather, along with other factors. Despite having a strong football program, winning the 2021 8-man Small School championship and having eight titles between Class C and D from the 20th century, Dexter has never been able to host a Friday night home game under the lights.
A committee will be meeting soon with community partners to discuss goals for a football field project.
“This $75,000 that we have received so far is going to go a long way toward the planning, preparing, engineering and design,” Gudroe said. “All those things that you don’t really think about when you are fundraising, all of that does cost money.”
“We’re very appreciative of all of the support we have had from across the state of Maine,” he said, saying people from across the country reached out to say they were voting for Dexter in the contest. “That feels really good for a small community in Maine.”
Bangor Daily News Sports Editor Matt Junker contributed to this story.