News

#WeNeedAGym

Cam Trout, Writer|November 9, 2016

The unfinished gym floor and ready for College and Career Fair

It all started one Friday morning when Jay Sullivan proclaimed on twitter, “What do we want, a gym. When do we want it, now.” This simple act sparked the gym floor movement. Sullivan said, “The floor is going to turn out really nice, but it seemed like the process was moving very slow. There didn’t seem to be any urgency, so we did the whole t-shirt thing as a joke because we needed a place to shoot.” The lack of gym space had been a hassle for too long and the student body was demanding a gym. Activities Director Ryan Swanson said, “It has been frustrating to deal with something that is ultimately out of our control. It’s unfortunate that we had to move pep fests around and can’t support our teams appropriately.”

"We Need A Gym" shirts: Nolan Malo, Khor Wal, Jay Sullivan, Hunter Atkinson, Terrell Connor — Jay Sullivan Twitter Account
“We Need A Gym” shirts: Nolan Malo, Khor Wal, Jay Sullivan, Hunter Atkinson, Terrell Connor

On Nov. 10, OHS will be hosting a College and Career Fair in the unfinished gym. Shortly after, the floor will finally be sanded, stained and painted. At this point, OHS will be placing a final coat on the floor, it will take ten days to set and then the new gym floor will be finished.

The gym floor project has had some recent changes. Workers have ripped holes in the two sidewalls behind the bleachers. This was done to allow construction workers to reach the old floor underneath the stands. Students were redirected for two days while construction workers made a door to get under the bleachers on each side of the gym.

There is not an exact finish date, but the gym floor will be complete by the end of November. The design for the gym floor is under discussion, but the final product will either have an “O” or a “Husky” logo in the middle with baselines that will most likely say “Owatonna Huskies.” Swanson said, “The new gym floor is going to be pretty sweet.”

The overdue gym floor will hopefully live up to everyone’s expectations and host a positive environment for Huskies’ sports.

Although students will be able to go into the new gym, the College and Career Fair will not allow anyone to have food or drinks with them. As the gym continues to wrap up, there is still no word on the football team’s pep fest before playing in the State Tournament this Saturday.