West Chicago Community High School will undergo several updates and facility improvements this summer. The changes, discussed at a recent school board meeting, continue work that began last year.

This summer, bathrooms on the third floor of West Chicago Community High School, in what is currently the World Languages wing, will be renovated.

“It’s always nice to keep the building up to date and looking newer,” Director of Business Services Dan Oberg said. “Updating the bathrooms is always nice.”

The first floor – specifically the area that was built in 1926 – will receive new ceiling tiles and LED lighting to help brighten the main hallway.

“It’s going to really brighten up that main hallway, which is kind of dark right now,” Oberg said. “That’ll be really nice and inviting for our new students coming in.”

A section of the roof is also scheduled to be replaced as part of this summer’s renovation work.

One of the two greenhouses will be removed to make space for a new 1,100-square-foot transition apartment, which will support current and incoming students in the transition program. The apartment will be built on the existing foundation of the south greenhouse.

“The big project is the new transition apartment that will take down one of the greenhouses and put up a 1,100-square-foot apartment that will be used for our transition students,” Oberg said.

The removal of the greenhouse comes after years of student use and occasional debate about the space’s future, which has been previously covered by the Wildcat Chronicle.

“I always enjoyed working in the greenhouse with the scent of soft soil and seeing beautiful foliage each day,” senior Denise Herrera said.

While the new transition apartment is under construction, summer activities in that area may be impacted.

“There’ll be some demolition and some fences put up around that area,” Oberg said. “So if students are running around over the summer for camps and things like that, there might be some limited space availability near the greenhouse.”