Sarah Hunt

Gym to school walkway under construction.

This school year, Collegedale Academy made lots of new changes and renovations to the high school. From remodeling in the upper room, gym, and weight room, to the newly painted parking lots, our school is taking on a new look.

One of the major projects this summer was changing up the gym. A sprinkler system and new bleachers with a capacity of 430 people was installed. The sprinkler system is almost complete as we are waiting for the pipe that will go through the new connector to supply water. The floor was resurfaced and now is shining with bright new painted colors. Coach Pardo was one of the major leaders on the gym project. He states that, “Coca Cola is donating a scoreboard to our school, but we are still waiting on their company to come and install it for us.” Due to these changes, Icebreaker was held on the first day of school in the middle school gym and registration, held Aug. 3, in the school itself as the gym was still undergoing renovations. Now, the school is moving on to connecting the high school and gym with an indoor pathway for students’ safety and easier access. There have been a lot of hold ups in this project as well as an estimated 4 – 6 months wait for windows that were ordered in March. Another major project that is yet to be completed is a new parking lot across the street by the middle school. Many students have been having trouble finding parking spaces and have sometimes “illegally” created some of their own. In order to keep the parking lot a safe place, the school decided to have the parking lot repainted and build a new one across the street. Now, students who need a parking space have to sign up for an assigned parking spot only for them, or else have to park across the street at the middle school. One of the last projects completed included the weight room and upper room. The walls were repainted and redone to match the school colors

The next project is a new elementary school that will be built behind the middle school. The elementary school groundbreaking was held on September 13.

Many of these changes would not have been possible without Mr. Phillips and his student workers. Mr. Phillips loves his workers and enjoys watching them grow in their skills and individually gets to know each one. He states that, “A goal of mine is to challenge students to do something they have not done before and actually may be uncomfortable doing, it helps them broaden their horizons a little bit and build their confidence and capabilities.” These workers did an amazing job even when they were told to clean the building or paint something they didn’t want to paint. The leadership potential for all these workers are tremendous as they are growing with new skills.

Overall, many changes have occurred in our school in order to make it a safer and newer place. With the gym renovations, remodeling, a new elementary school, and events being held in different places, the school is creating one new project after another filled with opportunities.