By Scott Roblin

Medicine Hat High gives sneak-peek into renovations

Aug 14, 2017 | 5:48 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Less than three weeks to go until Medicine Hat High School welcomes students back to a newly renovated building.

And on Monday, the school gave a tour of the multi-million dollar upgrades to a small group of media.

Gone are the ‘claustrophobic’ hallways, they’ve been replaced with large gathering areas and plenty of natural light.

Shop classes have been transformed to meet industry standards, while the performing arts building received a $2 million upgrade.

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Medicine Hat High School principal Boris Grisonich said every inch of the school has been assessed, and for the most part changed.

“Except for two washrooms [that] are almost identical, everything else is a total change,” said Grisonich. “The office went from the south building to the middle, the cafeteria moved one section over, the old mechanics wing is our gym. It’s an unbelievable make-over, and you’ll see in the videos and pictures it’s quite a drastic change.”

The final price tag of the renovations is expected to come in at around $43 million, though a large chunk has been subsidized by the provincial government.

Grisonich said it’s going to be quite the shock for students when they return to class at the beginning of next month.

“Incredibly open, bright, and spacious,” he said. “Even though we lost the north building, the kids are going to feel like they have more room in this building than they had in the two buildings before. The old building was dark, now there’s floor to ceiling glass all over the place.”

Fundraising for the school has reached around $1.2 million over the years, while the school is hoping to raise another $700,000 to finish their running track in the gymnasium.

According to Grisonich, these renovations weren’t just a want for the school, but a necessity with the building designed in the 1950s.

“It wasn’t great for kids to have spaces to do the kinds of things they want to do today,” he said. “Now everything is state of the art and I just think it was time. With all the changes in education, this was a great time for this.”

The school’s parking lot will open sometime in November, while the rest of the school will open to students on September 1.