The F building, which is home to art classes, will undergo its first major construction beginning June 6 and is slated to be completed by the end of October. 

According to Facilities Manager Eddy Medal, this renovation will include “a new roof, paint, drop down electrical components from the roof as opposed to the floor, LED upgrades and flooring in there as well.” Medal notes that unlike in previous years, where the F-building has seen “bits and pieces of updates and hand-me-downs, this is probably its first time ever having a real renovation done to it.” 

Unfortunately, Medal describes setbacks including supply chain related issues like getting the necessary raw construction materials that resulted because of the COVID-19 pandemic, making the end of October a wishful completion goal.

Medal recalls encountering problems including “the simplest things like flooring where last year we couldn’t get carpet … [or that] we were waiting for a motor shaft, which was the only thing missing out of the whole build for the H Vac units, but we couldn’t put it in for two months. It’s just things that you would never think about and just take for granted, and then all of a sudden it’s gone.”

From an administrative perspective, Assistant Principal Sydney Fernandez says the art teachers are excited for the reconstruction and have begun the process of boxing up their classrooms. 

“We’ve been working with teachers and starting to both clean out and pack up their rooms, figuring out what needs to stay and what can go — what they’ll need for next year as they won’t have access to their current rooms,” Fernandez said.

Administration has worked to place art classes in classrooms with sinks in the fall and shifted other courses to the only empty classrooms on campus until the F building renovation is complete.

Many students report being enthusiastic about the potential to have new classroom spaces next year. Junior Vincent Zhao, who takes Introduction to Engineering in the F-building, states that he is especially interested in seeing the new lighting and setup.

“I feel like a lot of MVHS buildings, especially those like the F-building and other art departments, have been really neglected so this reconstruction is long past due,” Zhao said. “A lot of my friends who spend a lot of time in the F-building due to Robotics have also mentioned that they’re also super excited for what the building is gonna look like later this year.”

Sharing this sentiment, Medal says he is looking forward to the success of the F-building reconstruction, so then construction can extend to other buildings in need of repair.  

“We’re starting on one of the arts buildings, but obviously there’s several more,” Medal said. “So drama would be the next one, the choir room, the band room, kind of just circle around this whole campus.”