UXBRIDGE, MASS. (WHDH) - A school in Uxbridge broke ground Thursday on a gym being built in honor of a College of the Holy Cross rower who was tragically killed last year in a car crash.
Our Lady of the Valley Regional School is paying tribute to Grace Rett, who graduated from the school in 2014, with an athletic complex in her name.
The Grace Rett Athletic Complex and Education Center will house physical education classes, sports practices and competitions, as well as provide classrooms for the Middle School Academy, chorus and band space, religious retreats, and more.
The project posthumously fulfills Rett’s longtime dream for her elementary and middle school to have their own indoor athletic space, school officials said.
Rett’s family attended the groundbreaking ceremony and said that she would be thrilled about the new complex, which is expected to open this winter.
“She was a true student-athlete and just to know how much better it will be for them, that’s what she would be most excited about,” said her mother, Mary Jo Rett.
Her sister, Brianne Rett, added, “I’m so excited for all the kids because having been in their shoes before, and this being something that I always dreamed of, all of us have, especially Grace, but I am so excited for them because I can feel how excited they should be.”
The 20-year-old died when her Holy Cross rowing team’s van crashed during a training trip in Florida on Jan. 15, 2020.
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