Despite the recent completion of the 1000 building, construction at Canyon Hills is far from complete. Plans to renovate the school’s existing buildings and sports facilities have been scheduled for years.

Athletic Director, PE teacher, facilities director, and Cross Country/Track head coach Jonn Pisapia is the man in charge of communications between the construction personnel and school administration. According to Pisapia, construction will continue over the summer of 2022. 

“They still have some stuff to do in the new building. It’s not complete yet. It’s complete from what you guys can see, but there’s still some technology that has to be done in the 1000 building,” said Pisapia.

Once construction is complete on the 1000 building, the focus will shift to renovating the 400 building. “This summer, they’re going to be working on the 400 building and that’s the photography class and the robotics class. And they’re going to be working in the auto shop and making that a huge new workspace. And then they will be tearing apart the old graphic arts classroom and Mrs. Nelson’s classroom. Those will become a photography studio that Mr. Pedersen will be teaching in that area,” said Pisapia.

Photography/Graphic Design teacher Michael Pedersen has been building up his classroom technology and hands-on equipment for years. According to Pedersen, “for my class, it’s going to be amazing because it’s going to be a much larger room and an entirely new workspace. They’re going to be building an enclosed studio in the photography studio that has lights mounted to the ceiling that you can actually move around and adjust. It’s a huge space, it will probably be close to $100,000 worth of additional equipment.” Pedersen is excited for the upcoming studio to be finished because of how much it benefits his students. With the upcoming technology, students in his class will be able to print out their work and see it used around campus, specifically designing posters and artwork that will be used on vending machines and other currently blank areas of the school.

Construction for the athletic department is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2023, according to Pisapia. “The softball field will be moved to the upper field, the baseball field will be moved over slightly, about ten or twenty meters. The discus will be moved to where the softball field is right now. The stadium will have a bunch of stuff redone, including new buildings put down below, a new press box inside, and bathrooms retrofitted.”

After the fields are fully renovated, work will begin on the gymnasium. The gym is getting cosmetic updates for modernization and to match the rest of campus. There will be new bathrooms, concession stands, team rooms, new laundry facilities, new lockers, and a new weight room. The current weight room will become the new cheer/dance room.

Plans following the field, stadium, and gym construction are currently being made, but are not finalized. According to Pisapia, the plan is to construct another gymnasium, smaller than the current gym, and a new performing arts center. The new gymnasium will allow for multiple practices and games to be held at the same time on campus. The new performing arts center is going to be a large theater with all state of the art equipment.

Following those two major projects, there are distant plans to renovate the 200 building and the media center, however, these will not come into fruition for years.

With all of these changes coming to the school in the coming years, many students have differing opinions on the construction. According to senior Jeremiah Hill, “I really like the new building, I just don’t like when kids mess it up. I also feel like the sports could wait. I feel like we should focus on building better buildings for classes first.”