Over the summer, several major construction projects were completed at LHS. These include the expansion of the weight room, the transformation of the old pool space into a dance studio and multipurpose room, as well as lockers installed into the storage area in the Brainerd building garage.
Athletic Director John Woods said that these changes were made in order to “maximize our indoor space for educational purposes, in addition to athletic purposes and fine arts purposes.”

The need for a new dance studio was essential, according to Mr. Woods. Before the addition of the new 4,000-square-foot dance studio to the lower floor of the old pool area, students in orchesis, poms and dance classes had to use whatever space they could find for practice. Commonly utilized locations were the cafeteria, Link Crew room, West Gym and various hallways.

The new dance room is complete with wall-to-wall mirrors, bars on one side of the room and screens for instructional purposes. During the day, the studio will be used for PE courses, and before and after school, poms and orchesis practices will be held there.

The wrestling room was relocated into the upstairs area of the old pool space, right above the dance studio.
According to Mr. Woods, the 8,000-square-foot space will be used for “physical education programming during the school day.” After school, it will be used for “wrestling during the wrestling season and it may be used for a wide variety of other activities we offer here at Libertyville. We’re not sure yet.”
The multipurpose room should be large enough to host the smaller wrestling meets for some of the lower levels, Mr. Woods added.

The space of the old wrestling room was used to expand the weight room. The walls separating the old, L-shaped weight room and the former wrestling room were torn down and new flooring was installed. Walls were given a fresh coat of paint and the lighting was changed. Mr. Woods said this new upgrade lets about 60-80 students safely be in the room at a time, and allows two strength and conditioning classes to be hosted simultaneously. There is now a significant increase in the number of students signing up for strength and conditioning courses, Mr. Woods said.

The garage at Brainerd was previously being used for storage, but it now holds 26 open-faced lockers with a lockable seat area. This change was made in early September. This gives the students who play soccer and lacrosse a space to store their equipment and valuables instead of setting them on the turf or concrete. A portion of the building will still be used for storage.

Additionally, students involved in LEAF (Libertyville Environmental Action Force) are working on establishing a courtyard/outdoor classroom. This organization is run by Mr. Lapish. More information will be provided on this in the near future.
The construction of most of these spaces began on May 26. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, construction workers were put on an A/B/C schedule, meaning they would only work on certain days of the week. Social distancing guidelines were enforced and workers had to wear both face masks and gloves while working.

The lack of students at school gave the construction teams more time to complete these projects.
Even though these facilities are now ready, full use of these rooms is not an option due to the pandemic. However, two of the spaces have already been partially used. Mr. Woods said the poms team hosted their summer camp in the new dance studio, and a few staff meetings were held in the new multipurpose room.