During the 2012-2013 school year, Ritenour started the process of gym upgrades for the school.

As the new year began, a completely updated floor and lighting system in Costilow Fieldhouse was unveiled, and they have been used by many students and staff so far.

Gym teacher Suzie Fortune has been impressed with the new facilities.

“We needed the upgrades really badly,” Fortune said.

The upgrades included a new hardwood floor, lighting system, and sound system.

New Athletics Director Drew Lohnes, played an important role in getting these upgrades.

“The old floor was over 50 years old; it was definitely time to replace it,” Lohnes said.

Volleyball Coach and math teacher Ellen Kim is pleased so far with the new upgrades.

“I love the new upgrades, now we can hear better at assemblies, and our school just looks better for competitions. This will really benefit us because the courts are in better condition for games,” Kim said.

Varsity volleyball player, junior Hannah Baker, thinks the floor will add a new dimension to the year.

“I’ve been playing for the volleyball team for three years and now since we have the new floors, I think kids will be intimidated by us,” Baker said.

Baker did add that there were still a few kinks that had to be worked out.

“The new floors are good to play on, but we get stuck on them and it’s hard to slide, but it brings brightness to the gym,” Baker said.

Junior Jessica Poelker also believes the upgrade will help the volleyball team.

“The new floors are easier to play on. It is going to be better for any sport. I absolutely love the new floors,” Poelker said.

The new sound system was put on display at the assembly on August 24. It was first used in public by senior Kenyondra Johnson, the Leadersip student in charge of the music at the assembly.

“The old system was terrible, the seniors and juniors could not hear at all when we had assemblies. The speakers would go in and out from time to time. Now since we have the new sound system we can hear perfectly fine.” Johnson said.

Aside from the new sound system in the gym, there are also new systems at the baseball and football field.

“All the speakers were bad, they all were either broken or going in and out of sound. We had to change them, “ Nolen said. “The new sound systems are beneficial to us because we held assemblies inside and the junior and seniors could never hear so they would goof off, so now since we have new speakers the behavior and attitude is better since they can hear.”

While the gym and football field systems were upgraded, the baseball field’s sound system is brand new.

“We added a new single speaker at the Baseball field so during games we can do announcements,” Nolen said.