Redwood high school gym is on schedule to be open in January or February of 2023.
Story by Gigantea Sports Staff. Interviews by Emma Jenan, Ellie Gilbert, Brooke Hacker, Savannah Medina, Dallas Harris, and Seth Lopez. Editing by Seth Lopez. Photography by Nick Miller. Graphic Design by Katelyn Weddle.
Students at Redwood High School are faced with a challenge that no other high school in the city is facing right now. Their school gym has been condemned and under construction since late May to current time. The closing of the gym has been very detrimental to students, staff and faculty.
The gym is currently on schedule for an almost 10 million dollar renovation. The renovation process started all the way back in July of 2021, where the agreement to renovate the gym was assigned. Following that process, the job got sent out to licensed architects to design the gym and once the design was chosen, the project had to get state approval. This whole process of design and approval lasted from July to October of 2021. After the State approved the job it went out to bid in October. Construction Companies had until November 2021 to present their proposal to do the job. On May 10th of 2022, the job was officially given to Seals Construction Inc.
When will the gym be done? It depends on who you talk to.
District facilities director, Steven Pena says “The date of completion is January 6th and as of today we are still on time and on schedule”
But Matt Seals, the president of Seals Construction Inc., the company that is responsible for reconstruction of the gym, says “I think it’s slated for right around February.”
When asked why the project couldn’t be completed in the summer, Pena said, “This project was too big to complete over the summer only.”
The project has not been smooth sailing through these past four months. Pena says, “Like any project there are always skeletons that we uncover. I want to say that there was some structural plywood roof material that was damaged so we are moving forward replacing that. We [also] had some issues in the shower area but nothing that caused any major delays.”
Seals says, “We have had some supply chain issues just like everybody in the country, getting mechanical units on time, various materials, it’s just the nature of the world currently.”
Some big changes that are to be expected pretty soon. You will see new roofing going on and the interior of the locker rooms will start to take shape with some new tiles on the wall. After the gym roof is done and acclimated with HVAC systems, the process of redoing the gym floor will begin.
The gym not being open is not only affecting sports, but also the academic side of things. The whole P.E. and Dance department is having to adapt their teaching methods. P.E. teacher, Brian Mcdonald says, “It’s harder without a gym because it takes away sports that our P.E. department would have done so it kind of puts us in one general area. So it kind of gets overcrowded.”
Dance Teacher Elisa Bardonnex said “Getting used to no mirror has been a huge change because the kids can’t really see what they are doing wrong. I am the only pair of eyes. I have to do a lot of spot on watching over and over and they have to repeat quite a bit.”
Freshman Brody Ice ‘26 says, “[The lack of a locker room] makes dressing out a little bit difficult but the worst part is taking our backpacks to wherever we may be, the track, the locker room, or the weight room.”
Not only has it affected classes, it has affected school culture as a whole. Asking Rally Commissioner, Alyssa Sozhino ‘23 what is it like designing rallies with no gym and about challenges she had faced she said, “I really enjoy it because we get to create new traditions and new ideas because of the new space but also kids used to stand up at the rallies and are missing out on some unity and traditions redwood has.”
Talking to Dr. Richard, Redwood’s school principal, she says “it affects the kiddos because you guys aren’t getting to have your assemblies inside the gym all at one time which I think is really impacting. Especially the freshmen who haven’t seen an assembly before and some of the sophomores haven’t really seen one before.”
Finally, arguably the most obvious impact of the gym being closed is the sports that require a gym. Students are forced to go to the local Middle School, Ridgeview, to practice and play games.
Wrestler Issac Medoza ‘24 says, “It’s hard to not have the gym this season because that’s where we spend most of our time in that room and for some of us it’s like our second home.”
Volleyball Player Morgan Castaneda who is a senior this year, has not played in the gym since her freshman year.
She says, “Not being able to play in our gym since freshman year makes the entire season just feel off. It’s great being able to play and do everything we normally would, but having to be away from Redwood during a Redwood “home” game makes me feel like I’m missing out.”
Castaneda’s mother, Mindy says “I’m glad Morgan was at least able to experience playing in her own gym for one year. It really gave her the sense of what it feels like to perform for her peers and it seemed to give her an extra bit of motivation and energy during games. Even though some of the Redwood students attend the games at Ridgeview, it’s not nearly as many.”
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