Continued construction: a campus glow-up
By Salena Hajidamji, Staff Writer
As students stepped back on campus last week for in-person learning, they were returning to a campus they did not recognize. Throughout the entirety of Distance Learning, the administration and construction team have been hard at work to improve the campus as a whole. The Michigan entrance is no longer blocked off by construction zones and fields of dirt, it has now been transformed into the Discovery Building, an iconic piece of the school's reconstruction.
Along with this, they were also able to update Freedom Walk (a stretch of campus from the 7th and Michigan gate to Barnum Hall) and plan to decorate the length of the walkway with photos of Civil Rights leaders. The Library has also undergone its own glow-up, as they refreshed it with new paint, fixtures, floors and furniture and it is ready to be used by students.
“The progress has been unbelievable. We will have a school that is brand new and has state of the art space” Shelton said.
Once the fixtures and furniture have been added to the Discovery Building, they will move to the south side of campus and begin Phase 3 of the building process. This includes the construction and planning of the Exploration building and the Gold Gym. They will begin with the demolition of the History building and Drake pool in order to replace it with the new buildings in plan. They are readily moving along the schedule, and plan to complete the construction by the 2023-2024 school year.
The school has planned to work on implementing amenities such as specialty studios dedicated to film, digital design and other visual arts as well as wellness centers in the Exploration Building. It will also include state-of-the-art classrooms for programs such as Project Lead the Way and a Law/Policy/Government Academy. The plans for the future Gold Gym are just as extensive as it is anticipated to have a two-court practice gym with pull-out bleachers, auxiliary court, dance studio, yoga studio, fitness gym and physical education classrooms, along with offices and storage spaces.
While the school is still under construction, it has come a long way from when the students last saw it in March of 2020. Hopefully students and staff will soon be able to utilize the buildings that the school has spent the last few years planning.
