By the beginning of March, workers completed assembling the frame of the new gym.  It is now easy to visualize the new gym and the space it will take up on our campus.  Workers continue to add support beams to the frame, but the parking lot area that was full of steel beams is not almost completely empty.

On Friday, February 12, after the biggest snow storm of the season, cranes and flat-bed trucks loaded with steel beams take over the Salesian High parking lot.  Assembly of the gym's outer walls is next!

Our new gym for the most part is set on rock; you can see the footing of concrete and reinforcing bars in the pictures above and to the left.  The foundation differs in places because of the soil and rock underneath or the load it will have to carry when the gym is done.  An example would be the "stepped footings" found in the lower left of the pictures.  Our gym will have a slab foundation.  In the picture at the left, you can see workers prepare footers that span the building and which will support the floor and stiffen the structure.  The high wall in the back is needed for the air-conditioning units that will be put on the roof.

     During the month of January, work on the foundation continued.  A platform was created upon which the new gym will sit.  In the picture above, retaining walls around the back of the gym are being poured.  The platform is filled with packed dirt and workers are currently digging trenches for pipes.

        On December 17, 2009, Salesian High School held a small ceremony at the future site of the Br. Jim Wiegand, SDB, Athletic Center.  The ceremony occurred as the concrete for the foundation of the building was being poured.  Attending, shown above at the left, were Fr. Pat Angelucci, SDB '64, President/ Director, Mr. John Flaherty, Principal, Mr. Chris Beal, Athletic Director, Mr. Steve Sallustio, Advancement Coordinator, Scott Fiorini, Student Council President, and representatives from each class.  Each representative threw a medallion, featuring Jesus, Mary, Don Bosco and Dominic Savio, into the foundation that will be a part of the building forever.
        Despite the coldest winter weather in years and an occasional dusting of snow, work continues at a fast clip on the new gym. as shown above at the right.  By early January of 2010, the footings of the gym's foundation are nearly completed.

The Big Trucks Arrive!  The Trees Go!

Early Tuesday morning, July 14, large trucks arrived on Main Street.  The equipment entered the school property through an opening cut into the white metal fence.  All day trees were cut down, logs loaded onto flat bed trucks, and branches fed into a chipper.  The spot for the gym is now cleared of trees.

At left, giant trucks line up on Main Street in front of the school.

A backhoe digs out the basketball posts.

     At their meeting on May 26, 2009, the City of New Rochelle Planning Board unanimously approved Salesian High School's plan for the new gym.  Members of the Premium Point Park Homeowners Association present at the meeting were impressed with Salesian High's eagerness to be a good neighbor and adhere to their requests.
 

     “After months of planning, our long awaited dream to construct a new athletic facility at Salesian High School will finally become a reality,” announced Fr. Patrick Angelucci, SDB, the school’s Director/President. 
     The students, alumni, faculty, administration and representatives of the Salesians of St. John Bosco held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Br. Jim Wiegand, SDB Athletic Center at the site of the new facility on Friday, May 1, 2009 at 9:15 A.M.
     “The new facility will provide much needed space to help meet the spiraling demands of the school’s growing athletic and performing arts programs,” said the school’s Principal John Flaherty.  According to Mr. Flaherty, the facility will not only be a tremendous boost to the sports program; but, it will also help free up some much needed space in the existing gymnasium to house a band room and expand the drama program.
     It is well known that in his 18-year career at Salesian High School (1962-1980), Br. Jim’s athletic program provided a well-rounded, balanced, athletic program that raised school spirit and instilled principles of sportsmanship, competition, and fair play.  His “Eagles” basketball team won a New York State Championship in 1976 as well as an unprecedented eight league championships - 1964, 1965, 1966, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1976, and 1979.  Salesian High School alumni, especially Br. Jim’s former players, have expressed their enthusiastic support and are grateful that Br. Jim’s service to the school, its students and the Athletic Program will be memorialized in such a tangible and meaningful way.
     The Br. Jim Wiegand, SDB Athletic Center is the first free standing building erected on the Salesian High School Campus since the current gymnasium was built in 1927.  Construction is expected to begin in late spring and completion is slated for December 2009.

Salesian High School Announces Construction of a New Gymnasium