Renovations to the TJ Gymnasium have begun, and will provide students with a better and safer gym for the upcoming school year.
Photo by Mia Nogueira
With a new school year approaching in August, the TJ staff and administration are working hard to make some beneficial changes to the school by the time the summer ends. One of these changes includes fixing up the school’s gymnasium.
Come August, TJ students will be welcomed back to school to find a brand new gymnasium, complete with new floors, bleachers, doors, and banners. “We’ve had the same bleachers and floors since the school opened in 1960, so it was due time for some changes,” said Boys’ Basketball Coach and Teacher Grant Laman.
“As far as the floor goes, it was essentially dead. It was uneven and swayed and could barely perform when it came to sports. With the new renovations, the floor will be nice and level. It should perform a lot better for the athletes,” said Laman.
On Saturday, April 30th, Laman, along with eight other teachers, made his way down to TJ to begin work on the gym. “The first phase is the demolition phase, meaning we just take everything out of the gym. On Saturday we basically took all of the wood out of the bleachers,” said Laman. In addition to taking out the old, dangerous bleachers, the Laman also took out the aluminum doors in the gym that lead to the dance and wrestling rooms. “It will be nice to not have those ugly dented aluminum doors in the gym,” he said. Following the demolition phase, the next part of the renovations will be to put the new floors in, and then finally, the new set of bleachers.
Once all of the construction is finished, the beautification process will begin. “We are going to have new banners hung all around the gym. We’re also planning on having some murals on the walls and new paint,” said Laman.
The TJ Administration believes that the new gym will be beneficial to all of the staff, students, and administration at TJ as it will be much safer for students attending volleyball and basketball games. “The old bleachers were less of something to sit on and more of a death trap for students,” said Laman.
It will also be valuable to the athletes who use the gym on a regular basis. “It got pretty annoying when you’d bounce the basketball in certain spots on the gym floor; it would make a weird noise or throw off the bounce,” said Varsity Basketball Player Nate Brewer.
Work on the gym is scheduled to be finished by mid-July, meaning that by the time students return in August, a new gym will be waiting for them. With all of the changes being made to the gym, the 2011-2012 school year is looking to be an even better, safer experience for everyone at TJ.
