After many years of construction, Tracy High is putting its finishing touches on the nearly brand-new campus. Tracy is currently remodeling the agriculture building, theater, and weight room.

After having construction on campus every year they have attended Tracy High, juniors and underclassmen are excited for construction to finally be over.

“It makes me feel excited because the school will finally be completed after all these years of construction,” junior Conrad Njamfa said. “I cannot wait to see the finished product.”

Agricultural teacher Nikki Maddux wrote a grant for $1.3 million that Tracy Unified District (TUSD) matched to pay for the remodeling of the three agriculture classrooms and Agriculture program secretary Fran Brown’s office. The Agriculture building will include classrooms that have a similar design to the James C. Franco (A) Building and E buildings and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) certified restrooms. However, the welding classroom will not be under construction. For the remainder of the school year, Brown and teachers Maddux, Laura Kelley, and Pat Rooney will be in the portables near the under-construction building.

The old building was not up to par with the needs of the teachers.

“That building has not been touched since 1953, and we wanted to update the classrooms in order to benefit our students,” Maddux said. “The things that we do are more hi-tech especially in Veterinary Science and Animal Physiology and we could not do those things in those classrooms.”

After years in the old agricultural classrooms, students are excited for the redesigned classrooms.

“With all the other buildings recently re-done, it will be nice to finally have the agricultural building re-done as well,” junior Angelo Arnaudo said.

The theater will also include new classrooms, ADA certified restrooms, and an ADA certified ramp for wheelchairs. It will have the same number of seats in the theater. For the remainder of the year the drama and music productions will be held in Kimball High and West High theaters. Art teacher Catherine Smutny and Drama teacher Jose Ortiz are currently teaching in the portables behind Wayne Schneider Stadium.

The construction has not been an issue for the class, but has created some difficulty in the production phase.

“It has not affected the class as much as the plays after school,” Ortiz said. “We are now rehearsing in the portables and the choir room.”

Drama students have felt the same way. “It has been difficult to adapt at the last minute because we only get the stages for so long,” senior Beau Mantor said.

The weight room has removed the classroom that was previously in the southeast corner of the weight room building. It will be turned into strictly a weight room for the weight training classes and Bulldog sports. It will also feature ADA certified restrooms, a custodial office, and possibly new equipment. When the weight room is finished, it will be the largest weight room in TUSD. Weight training is still using the weight room during construction with a fence separating the usable weights and the construction.

Space has been an issue with weight training during construction.

“It is a pain because we are all cramped in and we cannot do everything we normally do because we have limited space to work with,” junior Will Alexander said.

Physical Education teacher Chuck Selna is excited for the possibilities the new weight room will present.

“I think the space and the possibilities are the biggest excitement,” Selna said. “I think it will be a lot cleaner, more efficient, and will help benefit our students more.”

The construction, which is overseen by Acme Construction, is slated to be finished before the 2014-2015 school year.

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