Why look up when you can look down at Woodland’s newly renovated floors. Over the summer Woodland finalized changes to the gym floor so it was ready to go for the 2023-2024 school year. The old gym floor was original to Woodland when it was first built in 2001 so it was bound for an update. 

Even though the project was completed on time, the reactions are split. 

“I prefer the new gym floor,” said Joseph Fortier, Health and Physical Education Teacher. 

“You could tell it was an old gym floor and it needed to be maintained. There were parts of the floorboard in the corners that were warping up, and they continued to get worse.”

Fortier would know, since he uses the gym daily. But athletes see the change differently.

“I prefer the old one,” said Woodland volleyball hitter Kate Lisowski. “The new floor has lines that are goldish-yellow. Not only is the color not the [most appealing], but when we are playing games, it’s hard to see where the ball lands because it blends into the floor.”

Regardless of the line color, the new floor has enhanced the twenty-year-old gym. The old floor consisted of a pale white wood base color, brown three-point line accents, border lines with “Woodland Hawks” painted on them, and finished with the Woodland Regional Hawks logo in the center. The new floor now features a sandy-stained wood base floor with black, gold, and white foul lines. As an homage to the old floor, the new one still includes the border lines painted with “Woodland Hawks” and the Woodland Regional Hawks logo showcased in the center of the gym as the finishing touch. 

This new floor will benefit students, fans, athletes from Woodland as well as visiting schools, and future visitors to come.