In the past few months alone, Kingwood Park has gone through its fair share of changes with many more ahead. In addition to renovations already completed over the summer, such as changes to the LGI and COVID-19 precautions, the school will be renovating the main office and Larry Cooper Athletic building entrances, creating a workspace for the Big Heroes, Tiny Homes project, completing a third gym and more.

“All of the additions will be fantastic,” Wesley Solomon, associate principal, said. “Every few weeks, Mrs. Drabing and I get on a Zoom call to talk to people from the district and work with them to figure out what will work best.”

In addition, there will be a criminal justice mock courtroom built and a culinary arts center with an industrial kitchen set up. The front of the school serves as the hub, and the modernization it is about to undergo will give it a much-needed facelift.

In terms of construction, some items are still waiting to be approved by the school board, thus the process will most likely not be completed for a few years.

“The first thing that will be finished will most likely be the third gym,” Solomon said. “It will help the most because when it rains, our current fields will act like retention ponds. With six or seven different sports going on at once, having that gym will give our athletes yet another place to go.”

COVID actually sped up the process. With students home in March, renovations began full time and were finished earlier than expected.

Since the renovations are funded by a bond, all of the other high schools in the district are currently undergoing or will be undergoing renovations.

Students from other campuses are now expected to be visiting the campus for classes such as culinary arts, like they already do for auto collision.

Solomon is excited about the renovations, hoping that the new aspects of the school will bring back some of the school spirit lost during COVID-19.

“It’s nothing dramatic, but with these renovations, we are definitely getting our fair share,” Solomon said. “Hopefully these will spike some curiosity from our students.”