After years of waiting, the long anticipated new gym at Paul VI High School is scheduled to open in fall 2003.
"It's just been a long drawn-out process," said Karen Hanrahan, director of institutional advancement.
The new building, which is currently being constructed behind the school at a cost of $5.4 million, will feature a full-size gymnasium that can seat 1,200 in bleachers. It will also have two weight rooms, athletic department offices and team rooms.
"It will give us greater flexibility in scheduling practices as well as games," said athletic director Pete Menke. The expanded weight room "will give our student athletes greater opportunities."
What impresses people most about the new gym, school officials say, is its seating capacity. The current gym seats around 350, while the auditorium seats about 700. Either way, school officials are excited about the new activity center, because it will allow the school to meet altogether in one setting for the first time since 1987. Current student enrollment stands at 1,150.
"Suddenly, when the wall goes up, there's this sense of, 'Oh my God, this is really going to happen,'" Hanrahan said.
With more room, more spectators can attend sports events. The larger sporting events are held at gymnasiums at Marymount University in Arlington and Georgetown University.
The school also plans to use the gym for schoolwide events, such as masses, assemblies and dances.
"Its going to allow us ... to do all the things that schools do," Hanrahan said.
Parents, alumni and the local diocese contributed to the building's construction campaign, which began in 1998.
"The alumni are excited about coming back to it," said Margaret Carson, director of communications.
The construction, which began this past fall, hasn't disrupted classes, Carson said. Classes were more affected by other recent renovations, such the reworking of electrical wires in classrooms.
"It's just going to make things better," Carson said.