Elevating Athletics: Samo’s New Gold gym

With the new Exploration Building officially open, students are looking forward to the opening of the new Gold Gym. The Gold Gym was originally planned to open for the 2024-2025 school year, but it has experienced some recent delays. At it’s time of opening, the new gym will expand Samo’s athletic programs tremendously. The Gold Gym will house two gyms, a dance studio, outdoor workout areas, a yoga room, a fitness room, new locker rooms and a third auxiliary court for both volleyball and basketball. The gym’s large size and modernization makes it unique to the other gyms on campus. Featuring well-lit spaces and outdoor areas, the new Gold Gym is designed to be an ideal and productive environment for student-athletes.

The view of Samo’s newly constructed Gold Gym from what will be the front entrance of the building. Photo by Manny Lopez

On May 8, 2024 Samo celebrated the finishing of the steel frame for the Gold Gym. Officials, district representatives and the construction crew witnessed the final steel beam of the building being placed. The milestone is one of many to come as the gymnasium is almost finished and ready for use. Teams like varsity girls volleyball have already started planning on using it for their future practices and games.

Girls varsity volleyball player Maya Paysinger (’25), expressed her anticipation for the gym as it becomes closer and closer to being finished, “I'm super excited to see the new Gold Gym and play the next two-thirds of our games in there. I think the crowd will be bigger and better because of the new gym and overall I'm excited to see what the gym is going to be like and what it will bring to Samo,” Paysinger said.

Photo by Manny Lopez

Both the Gold Gym and the Exploration Building are components of Samo’s Campus Plan, which includes rebuilding a majority of  “outdated” structures. This eight-phase plan has already taken action, with the Discovery building being the first step into the future of a modernized Samo. The plan, which began with phase one and two in 2018, led to the creation of the Discovery building. Phase three of the plan includes the construction of the Exploration Building and Gold Gym. Stage four will be the demolition of the existing English and Business buildings, and will lead to the construction of a student art gallery and an infant and toddler center. Phase five will demolish the Admin building, leading to the construction of a Performing Arts and Music Department. Phase eight will be the final phase in the plan, following six and seven. Expected to be completed in the year 2047, the final build will end with new tennis courts, a new stadium with seating for up to 2,500 people, structured parking, another gym, a new field and many other upgrades. The point of the expansions is aiming to prepare the school for future generations, as well as adjust the space in classrooms for ideal learning.

Colleen Davenport gives us exclusive information on the Gold Gym for student-athletes and teachers alike.

“The biggest thing that athletes should be looking forward to in the Gold Gym, is an additional practice space, an additional weight room and a classroom to watch games from. Most of all, air conditioning. We are hoping that the Gym is finished in the last week of September,” Davenport said.