The Panama State Champions sign has officially been installed on the grounds of the school. Submitted photo

PANAMA — After continuous conversations over the past year that followed off and on conversations in the village of Panama for about 10 years, the village officially has a sign honoring their state champions on the grounds of the school.

The village of Panama has brought up the possibility of a sign throughout 2024 and 2025, with potential options including having one on all four of the welcome signs in the village, before it was decided to approach the school about having one big sign on school grounds.

The official decision to approach the school was made back during the village’s April board meeting, where three different sign options were looked at; a banner option, an option to put the sign underneath the existing welcome signs, and an official sign in front of the school. It was noted at that meeting that these championships have happened over the span of the last decade, but that they really do not happen that often, and these championships deserve recognition. The board discussed liking the bigger sign to be placed at the school the most, and discussed approaching the school about putting the sign up in the school yard. The village welcome sign option only allows for nine spaces, and the village already has eight to put up, making that option an issue.

State championship wins that are recognized on the sign that was installed at the school at the beginning of October include; Clymer/Sherman/Panama Wolfpack football team wins in 2018, 2019 and 2024, the Panama Central School girls volleyball team in 2016, with the track state championships occurring in 1996, 2011, and 2019, and the Panama boys basketball team won the 2025 Class D state championship.

During the April village board meeting, Mayor William Schneider said this conversation has come up multiple times since the volleyball win in 2016, also being tabled a few times, until the football’s back-to-back wins brought it back to the village’s radar by various people in the village.

“They go to other villages and they see championship signs with the ‘welcome to Tim-Buck-Two, here’s the Tim-Buck-Two state champions’,” Schneider said at the meeting. “So they asked if the village was going to do that to honor the students’ excellence, and so that’s where we are today.”

Panama Central School Superintendent Emily Harvey spoke with The Post-Journal after the installation of the sign, saying that while she was not involved in previous conversations about the sign, having just recently taken over the role of Superintendent, she knew the school and village both wanted to honor their state championship teams and individuals.

“We wanted to do it in the most cost effective way and to be able to show these accomplishments,” Harvey said. “The village approached the school about having a sign on school property rather than at the four different village signs and we decided that was the best way to do it.”

Harvey said the school and village met and came to an agreement that the village would pay for it and have them look over designs that both entities would agree on. She added that they chose a place on the school’s property where people will be best able to slow down and see the sign.