Throughout last year, students were constantly forced to relocate classrooms and were limited as to what doors they could and could not enter through. Students and teachers coped with the building as a construction zone knowing the end result would be a renovated building.

  Lane has always been known as a school with suffocating classrooms during the warmer seasons and cooler classrooms during the winter season. So when the renovation project was announced, students and teachers could not have been happier.

  With over 4,000 students, Lane is the largest selective enrollment high school in Chicago. Not only is Lane known for its  diverse population, it is also known for the massive building. The renovation project was the “largest capital renovation project that our school has undergone since it was built in 1934,” according to Mr. Ara, the assistant principal who is in charge of the construction.

  Without a doubt, everyone noticed the new windows and the freezing cold classrooms on the first day of the 2016-17 school year, but what else has been done?

  According to Ara, the $56.7 million project included:

■ Replacing 2,566 windows

■ Replacing 91 exterior doors

■ Installing 160 new window air conditioners

■ Replacing 200,000 square feet of roofing (enough to cover 4 football fields)

■ Replacing 1 million bricks

■ Painting the interior of the entire building using over 7,000 gallons of paint (enough to fill a tanker truck)

  The construction did not make students’ lives any easier last year. Classrooms were constantly moved and the school was shared with not only students and teachers, but also the construction workers.

  “It has made the building and the atmosphere busy, because many parts of our school were closed down and workers were all over the place. Sometimes it was too hard to hear the teachers, due to their tools,” senior Alexis Hansen, Div. 764, said.

  Although the construction was clearly a nuisance for students and teachers, it was also necessary. Two years ago, there were constant complications with the library, and the safety of students, according to Erin Driesbach, library assistant.

  “We had some water damage,” Driesbach said. “Some parts of our ceiling, the tiles were falling down and our wood carvings had to be removed because of water behind them.”

  The water damage caused the library to close on several occasions. “A few times for safety in terms of when water got into our ceiling, we had to close the library to make sure no tiles fell when the kids were in the room,” Driesbach said.

  The improvements that have been made benefit the students and teachers, and were implemented to create a safer and more appealing environment. Although the major construction is completed, there will some work done through fall, including skylight work on the fourth floor.