On Friday, April 8, we visited the construction site and were very pleased to see the progress and the 3rd floor taking shape. The wall studs were all in place on the 3rd floor and Bobby Abner told us that the new electrical conduit and air conditioning duct work would be started on Monday.

Third Floor East Wall

Third floor Southeast Corner

In the picture that had the sign “Big Hole”, they were filling in the old elevator shaft by installing new support beams in each floor and replacing that area with new rest rooms.

Third Floor old elevator shaft

On the 2nd floor, the tracks were in place on the floor outlining where the walls will be for all the rooms. I was surprised to see how big the new Skills Lab 1 is going to be, a little bigger than I expected.

Skills Lab

It was exciting to see the multi-media rooms and classrooms in place to really get a ‘feel’ of where everything will be.

Second Floor classroom off Skills Lab.

We discovered one door in the Testing Center that was not where it was suppose to be and caught it in time to get it corrected.

One area we were not able to enter was the Dean’s offices on the north wall. That area was still closed off due to asbestos removal.

The 1st floor still had a little demolition going on.

Two men were using a sledge hammer to remove an old restroom wall. What a delight to see that old pink tile come down. There was a great deal of concrete dust in the air on the 1st floor and we had to walk over the debris in some areas and demolition was approximately 90% complete.

First Floor

The northwest corner was a concern the last time I was there because there was not enough ceiling height. They were able to remove part of the ceiling to make code height instead of removing the floor above. That was good news. The old auditorium was being torn down and the old seats were among the concrete rubble on the floor.

The center of the Ground floor showed a great deal of progress. Most of the demolition was complete except for the area where the new elevator will go.

They had the area taped off and the concrete floor removed, but the support beams in the floor need to be removed for the elevator shaft and mechanical room. The north wall still needed a lot of demolition which leaves the Ground floor at about 80% demolished.

Once again I would like to thank Bobby for his hospitality during our guided tour. He was very kind to explain everything to us and answer all our questions

Cathy Jo Damoth