Photo: The new court at the Wenner.

Just six months after getting together with a group of friends at Conley’s Pub for a beer and to throw around the “wild” idea of replacing the worst basketball court – the vinyl floor at Belmont High’s Wenner Field House – any high school team had to play on, John Carson was standing on a shiny, new surface ready for action.  

“This is amazing,” said Carson, as he and that original group of supporters, school officials and the captains of this coming season’s Belmont High basketball celebrated the court’s completion at Wenner Field House on Monday, Aug. 31.

“Amazing that, one, we pulled it off, and two, it looks this damn good,” he said.

The new stone grey and dark blue court – which will be inaugurated by Belmont High’s Volleyball team at a scrimmage this week – is a composite surface that took Rockland-based American Sport Floors about five weeks to complete.

“I couldn’t be prouder,” said Carson, who said once the original group of supporters – made up of himself, Paula Christofori, Jon Baldi, Chris Messer and David Ramsey – decided to move forward with the plan, it would take “only 10 to 12 weeks to get the money to do all this.”

The new court is an example of a growing trend in Belmont where – whether out of frustration or due to  philanthropic intentions – residents, businesses and groups join to raise the private funds needed to build or improve public infrastructure that town government is finding harder to finance.

Recently, private monies have been used to repair school playgrounds, irrigate town fields and “rescue” the new swimming facility, to name a few. 

The new varsity court joins the list of privately funded/public amenities that included a pair of $35,000 contributions; from the Belmont Savings Bank Foundation and Belmont Youth Basketball Association. 

“In no way did [Belmont Savings] want their logo on [the center court] because they wanted to do the right thing, so hats off to them,” said Carson.

An additional $40,000 was collected from private individuals – “from $10 to $5,000,” said Carson – and $15,000 from Belmont Boosters allowed for the entire varsity areas to be redone. 

The adjacent JV court and surrounding areas will be completed in the summer of 2016 financed by a $100,000 appropriation from the town’s Capital Budget Committee.

Carson also praised Belmont Schools Superintendent John Phelan as “someone who gets things done” for making the project a priority “because it will be used by all students, and that was a key for him.” 

Opening the court to the players for a brief shoot-around – Carson said hopefully the new court “will bring a championship with it.”

“No pressure, guys,” he said to the players. 

Photo: The quintessential Belmont Colonial, this one located between School and Goden on Washington Street.

A weekly recap of residential properties sold in the past seven-plus days in the “Town of Homes.”

171-173 Beech St., Triple decker (1912). Sold: $925,000. Listed at $ 950,000. Living area: 3,516 sq.-ft. 16 rooms, 6 bedrooms, 3 bath. On the market: 56 days.

153 Washington St., Center-entrance, hip-roof Colonial (1930). Sold: $1,125,000. Listed at $1,199,900. Living area: 2,504 sq.-ft. 8 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths. On the market: 107 days.

146 Watson Rd., Center-entrance Colonial (1928). Sold: $1,150,000. Listed at $1,150,000. Living area: 2,407 sq.-ft. 8 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths. On the market: 56 days.

69 Oak Ave., Colonial with Queen Anne elements (1907). Sold: $1,150,000. Listed at $1,075,000. Living area: 2,716 sq.-ft. 11 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. On the market: 56 days.

86 Clark St., “Lemuel Hatch House” Italianate/Greek Revival (1863). Sold: $850,000. Listed at $795,000. Living area: 2,407 sq.-ft. 9 rooms, 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths. On the market: 42 days.

25 Dalton Rd., Two-level condominium (1920). Sold: $590,000. Listed at $529,000. Living area: 2,287 sq.-ft. 11 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. On the market: 58 days.

133-135 White St., Two-family (1928). Sold: $757,000. Listed at $ 725,000. Living area: 2,676 sq.-ft. 13 rooms, 4 bedrooms, 2 full baths. On the market: 72 days.

Photo: Caps flying during the 2015 graduation at Belmont High School.

“Bittersweet,” is how Lisa Castagno would feel watching her daughter, Olivia, receive her diploma along with 274 of her classmates during graduation ceremony for the Class of 2015 at Belmont High School on Sunday afternoon, June 7.

“I’m really happy but sad,” said Castagno, who has seen three daughters graduate from the school, with a son remaining. “It’s great to see them growing up. It’s an exciting time for them and for us parents but in a different way.”

Amidst cheers, hugs, contemplation, photos and a cloud of cigar smoke, 275 seniors transformed from students to alumni during the ceremony held in the school’s Wenner Field House.

“Your child charmed us, and at times alarmed us, they have pushed the boundaries of learning and thinking to new horizons,” Belmont High Principal Dan Richards told the graduates and those who packed the Field House.

“We will miss their energy and their endless ideas, but know that each of them will put that creativity and intelligence to good use,” he said.

Class President Sophie Kunz-Cosgrove said this graduating class “cultivated a culture of hard work, determination, and caring, in and out of the classroom.”

“After today, we will start our lives apart. But we built something here that will always be with us; a community, our community where everyone is different but everyone belongs,” she said.

Thomas Zembowicz, the first of the speakers honored with the School Committee Award for Outstanding Achievement in Scholarship – whose long list of accomplishments in academics, volunteering and athletics read by School Superintendent John Phelan seemed to embarrass him slightly – said what he will miss the most from his experience at Belmont High is “a feeling of contentment and belonging … in even the most mundane situations” hearing snippets of conversations or watching classmates working together on projects.

“I reflected on the rituals that bind us as a class; unscripted and unnoticed … noticing these shared routines … gave me a more powerful sense of nostalgia,” said Zembowicz, who will matriculate at Yale in the fall.

“Take a minute to notice the forged ties with people that shared things with you, even if that means just sharing a table at the library,” he said. “Because even as the past weeks events slip out of our memories, we will always have each other.”

Organization, for Catherine Tang, the second School Committee Award speaker, was the touchstone of her experience at Belmont High School. How she studied and practice, Tang did each within a tidy planned “comfortable” system. That was until the day her art teacher, Mark Milowsky, squirted a tube of paint on her blank canvas.

“Mr. Milowsky said, ‘You need to learn to trust yourself’,” Tang said. Despite being out of her comfort zone, she created a work that she remains most proud.

“We all have our plans, our systems, our expectations for the future. But we may find that someone splatters paint on our canvas,” said Tang, who will not travel far to attend Harvard College this fall.

“It is up to us to decide what we make of the unexpected situations that life throws at us, whether we view them as obstacles or as opportunities for personal growth,” she said.

“Don’t worry about the unexpected; trust your abilities and put your mark on the new and unexpected.”

Finally, it was time for the 275 students to become former pupils, to shake hands with school committee members, superintendent, and principal; then tossing caps in the air, and meet outside for photos and cheap cigars.