Grants helped fund several renovation projects to improve the school facilities this summer. The upgrades included two portable classrooms, larger Fine Arts, STEM, and robotics classrooms as well as dressing rooms for the drama department and new locker rooms and the softball field.
Renovating the school, adding two portable buildings, larger classrooms, and more dressing rooms, students, teachers, and administration are excited about these new upgrades.
This planning began just months before school got out for summer.
“This all started running through my mind last probably February, March. Maybe right before Spring break,” Principal David Morton said. “We gave [the constructors] the green light as soon as you guys left school last year.”
Renovations were done, making more dressing rooms for fine arts students and more classroom space for Fine Arts Director Brett Young.
“We needed more space for people to get ready and more mirrors to put on makeup and costumes,” Young said. “I moved. My classroom is bigger now.These new remodels are helpful for staff to not have to constantly travel from one room to another.
“I have access not only to my robotics room, but my classroom at the same time,” STEM teacher Marty Monigold said. “This is definitely going to help out with robotics and the classroom because so many of my tools are dual use. It’s very nice having them all located in one central place as opposed to one end of the school and the other.”
Grants helped to fund the $250,000 renovations.
“Some of it was made available through some grant money that we’ve gotten from the government because of COVID because they wanted to space students out more,” Morton said. “The portable that we put on the north end, it was paid for totally by those grant funds because of COVID.”
Junior Thomas Trepagnier has class in the new technical productions room.
“I like the renovation,” Trepagnier said. “It brightened up the classroom and makes it look more modern.”
Other students are content in the portable buildings.
“It feels pretty homey,” junior Judith Suarez said. “It’s small and the air conditioning feels so nice in there.”
However, the portable does not have all the amenities of a regular classroom.
“They have no bells and no speakers for announcements,” Trepagnier said.
In addition to the classroom renovations, the softball bathrooms were converted into locker rooms for the softball girls.
“The new locker rooms are really cool,” senior softball player Piper McPherson said. “We have a lot more room and a bathroom.”